The Revolution
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Bush's Legalized Sweatshops
Inmate Labor* Jane Foi
May/June 2004 • Issue 26
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EDITORS/PUBLISHERS
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CONSULTING EDITOR
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from your editors
Who is working in America? And if you are working, maybe the questions should be - what
kind of job are you working? Like the woman on the cover, slinging donuts for Krispy
Kreme, are you working a service-industry job? Do you have medical benefits? Are you
represented by a union? Do you even like your job? So you see. without getting too deep
into economic analysis and speculation (hey, that's what we have the Economist and
Dollars & Sense for), there's plenty to talk about on the subject of "work.''
As soon as we sat down to write this letter, song lyrics we wanted to quote easily came to
mind. We could have turned to the IWW labor songs for something like:
Why do you work for 8 hours or more?
Two of us could have jobs if you'd only work 4.
Or we could have gone with Aesop Rock's more contemporary "9-5ers Anthem":
We the American working population hate the fact that 8 hours a day are spent
chasing the the dream of someone that isn't us. We may not hate our jobs, but we
hate jobs in general that don't have to do with fighting our own causes.
Or maybe some of you are more familiar with the classic:
Workin'9to5
What a way to make a livin'
Barely gettin' by
It's all takin'
Andnogivin'
They just use your mind
And they never give you credit
It's enough to drive you
Crazy if you let it!
Whichever of the countless songs out there dedicated to workin' for a living (Huey Lewis
anyone?) you claim as your own anthem of disdain for the work-a-day grind, we all share
one thing in common — we all gotta do it. Many of us love our work. Many of us hate
nothing more than the thought of another day under the thumb of our boss. And thanks
to the current administration, millions of us would take whatever we could get right now
to put some food on our tables. We'll save that last point for discussion later in summer
when we get closer to the election, but right now let's take a look at what people around
the world are doing to find purpose or just get by.
Thanks for reading. Now get back to work.
4
-#A
Jen J Angel and Jason Kucsrrra
PS: You've undoubtedly noticed the new look on the front cover. We redesigned the
website, too. The old look served us well for four years, but it was time to make a
change. We're always trying to improve the magazine, to get it into more people's
hands, to fulfill our mission more completely. None of that is possible without your
support, so thank you!
CLAMOR'S mission is to provide a media outlet that reflects the reality of alternative politics and culture in
a format that is accessible to people from a vanety of backgrounds CLAMOR exists to fill the voids left by
mainstream media We recognize and celebrate the fact that each of us can and should participate in media,
politics, and culture We publish wntmg and art that exemplify the value we place on autonomy, creativity,
exploration, and cooperation CLAMOR is an advocate of progressive social change through acbve creation of
political and cultural alternatives
clam«or 'kla-mer 1 : a loud continuous uproar of many human voices 2 : insistent public expression
ECONOMICS
9 Union Cab Cooperative
Mike Gonzales
12 Freelancers UNITE! Can Writers Get It Together?
NickMamatas
14 Iraq's Labor Resistance
Shannon Carson
14 Fighting to Stop the Other War:
Cheryl Honkala Discusses the War on the Poor
interview by Rachel Gazda
16 Bracero 2004:
How Bush Plans to Legalize American Sweatshops
ArtemioGuerra
MEDIA
20 A Day in the Life of Democracy Now!
Anna Lappe
23 Work in the Age of Reality TV
Anne Elizabeth Moore
25 TV-piquetera
Marie Trigona
27 Word on the Streets:
Street Papers Amplify the Voices of the Voiceless
Israel Bayer
29 The Fixer: Getting the Truth Out About Iraq
Rob Eshelman
POLITICS
32 A 40-Hour Workweek? Yes, PLEASE!
Kari Lydersen
35 Sabocat Asks: Where in the World is the 40-Hour Week?
Madeleine Baran and Amanda Luker
36 Workin' for the Man
Victoria Law
37 Red, White, and Wal-Mart Blue
Joe Diffie
38 Welcome to the Military! May I Take Your Order?
Madeleine Baran
39 Taking Back Our Health: Ithaca's Health Fund Model for Change
Susan Leem
SEX & GENDER
42 Conjuring the Ghosts of Fondas Past
Jessica Hoffman
45 How Safe Are Your Toys?
Jennifer Grant
CULTURE
48 This is Entertainment? Chimp-sploitation in Hollywood
Sarah Baeckler with Charles Spano
52 Micranots Intelligence: MC I Self Devine
interview by Samuel Pixley
54 What's Your Passion?
Stella Meredith
55 Compassionate Science: When Two Good Causes Collide
Emily Sloan
PEOPLE
58 Working It Out: A Prison Work Program That Works
Christina Cook
61 Vulnerability and Resistance: Chris Abani
Tess. Lotta
62 Job Relocation: Luo Kai Ming Changes Careers
Michelle Chen
64 The Unlikely Striken A Side of Mom She's Never Seen Before
Leilani Clark
LAST PAGE
66 Clamor Music Festival 2004!
REVIEWS
17 Working Class Hero
18 Sound Investments
24 60 Second Shout Outs
28 Plexifilms
34 War of Independents
54 Fanning the Flames
s
3
Please address letters to letters@clamormagazine.org
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Letters may be edited for length.
Not all letters received will be printed.
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5
A Mom Seeks Justice
I'm Sherman Austin's mom. I wanted to thank all
of you for printing the story about his case. This
case is extremely complex and difficult to navigate
and I appreciate the fine job you all did in reporting
the facts. I just wanted to let you know that pg.
2, paragraph 2 states: "In fact, Austin wasn't
even charged with anything until six months
after..." It's important to note that Sherman was
never charged with any crime. The prosecutor
threatened to indict Sherman if he did not sign
the plea agreement. This tactic is typical of our so
called justice system. Pressuring people to sign a
plea for a crime they didn't commit by threatening
a more serious charge if the case goes to trial, i.e.,
the 20 year terrorist enhancement. This is what
we are dealing with. A justice system based on
lies NOT truth. What can we do about this unjust
system that try's to portray itself as a system
based on truth and equal representation for all?
I don't have all the answers, but I will continue
to share the details of this case with whomever
will listen. Exposing the inner workings of our
system has become a full time job for me
Jennifer Martin Ruggiero
North Hollywood, CA
Right Topic, Wrong Writer
I would like to address the article "Contemplating
Suicide" (March/April 2004). I find four main points
in the two-page article — which I can summarize in
one sentence: A human considering committing an
act of suicide: a) must recognize that he/she has
the freedom of thought and freedom of action, b)
must realize that life is finite, c) must realize that
"option" of suicide would end his/her life hence
ending all subsequent options of thought and
action, and — most importantly — d) must come
to a rational decision based on an internal debate
concerning the quality of his/her life
[I would have preferred] the article to address
how, as a society, we need to contemplate the
topic of suicide: Why is the topic of suicide still
often considered a social taboo? In what ways
does an individual's suicide affect the survivors
in his/her society? How should we as a society
address suicide - ' What does suicide indicate
about the social and physical environment we
have created for ourselves 7 No mention of
Durkheim's famous book "Suicide" — which some
sociologists feel spawned the field of sociology...
I applaud the author. Matthew Pianalto,
very little His article didn't even seem to address
the issue in its title - what suicide, or the act of
contemplating suicide, "takes" and "gives." If
he meant to say that considering a suicidal act
takes a rational thought process but can yield
an enriched sense of self-awareness, then he
should have clearly annunciated that conclusion.
While I question your experience with suicide,
your long-winded verbiage left me with little doubt
concerning your identity as a graduate student
practicing up before his dissertation.
On the other hand, I do applaud Clamor
magazine for publishing an article on the topic
of suicide. Any article on a "hard" topic could
evoke members of our society to initiate important
discussion... but next time please select your
article more carefully.
Debra Krause
Boulder, CO
Aesop Rock: Bringin' Clamor Down?
I've been holding my tongue regarding that Aesop
Rock interview (Nov/Dec 2003) since I've read
it. As someone who is really supportive of what
Clamor has been doing, it made me question the
integrity of what I feel like the readership expects
on a consistent level. Yeah, Aesop Rock is hipster
hotshit right now, in terms of contemporary Hip-
Hop culture. After reading the article, I was really
disappointed, besides lacking any real content,
it made me wonder if it was just a straight-up
marketing ploy. I don't know, maybe the point of
the interview was more subversive than that, and
it was actually to show that this kid who gets a lot
of attention and is on a popular "underground"
label is really just a video game obsessed pothead
who doesn't have much to say in addition,
from someone who is also very supportive of
the conscious Hip-Hop scene (as you are also,
if I'm not mistaken), it frustrates me to think
that some readers who aren't as well-versed in
the genre but have an interest might be instantly
turned off and assume that the stereotypes
are true; hiphoppers really are a bunch
of complacent potheads who aren't activating for
change.
Samuel Pixley,
Winona, MN
Setting the Record Straight
I'm the Director of the gallery that sponsored,
funded and facilitated the Prisoner Art exhibit that
Susan Phillips wrote about in your current issue
("Creativity in Confinement" Jan/Feb 2004).
I take issue with the characterization of the
Klein Art Gallery, and her lack of any credit to a
grass roots organization struggling to bring art to
the public, beyond the usual elite art-going crowd.
The Creativity in Confinement exhibit was
part of one of the Klein initiatives called the
Art & Community Exhibition senes. We feature
organizations like Books Through Bars that
use art to reach out and better the lives of their
underserved constituency. Ms. Phillips failed to
make any mention of the Klein Gallery other than
to portray us only as a "polished lobby" that traffics
the "comings and goings of suits and ties" — which
is the furthest thing from what that space is and is
about! The gallery sponsors public school creative
art workshops regularly, and when 30 kids are in
the space it is anything but polished and full of
suits and ties. If anything, the gallery is a great
example of where the two worlds mix and benefit
from each other
Dan Schimmel
Director & Curator of Exhibitions
Esther M. Klein Art Gallery
Philadelphia, PA
www.kleinartgallery.org
For a Better World
I wanted to comment on the article. "Ni Una Mas!
The Dead of Juarez Demand Justice" (Mar/Apr
2004). This article is an eye opener to those
who have never heard about these happenings.
Someone needs to get up and fight for a better
Mexico! A better world! People cannot feel
trapped. We all need to unite politically and let
our voices be heard: we are not going to take it
anymore! If we don't fight for the corruption in the
government to end then incidents like the dead
women of Juarez will continue to occur not only in
Juarez, but will spread to other places.
Linda Rios
Cicero, IL
Corrections
In the Mar/Apr 2004 issue, wnter Wahdah
Imansha's name was incorrectly listed on the
contributor's page
The correct web address for Political Graphics,
featured in the "Ni Una Mas' article (Mar/ Apr 2004)
is www.politicalgraphics.org — not com.
In "The Village of the Bones" (Mar/Apr 2004),
Tommy Joseph Jimmy's name was spelled
incorrectly
Looking for Grants? Experienced proposal writer
is available to work with your 501 (c)3 nonprofit
organization (must have this IRS tax status). 11
years experience, over S3 million raised. Research
and coaching also available. Sheryl Kaplan,
Grants Consultant, www.skaplangrants.com or
sheryl@igc.org.
The revolution won't be televised, but you can
read about it. Books for a better world, by Mike
Palacek, former federal prisoner, congressional
candidate, newspaper reporter. Please visit:
iowapeace.com.
This is the Place: Queers from Mormon
Families Stake Their Claim. You grew up queer
and closeted in a Mormon family or household,
but where are you now? We want to publish your
story! We are compiling an anthology of such
stories to arouse, to inspire, to entertain, to teach,
and most of all, to claim our identities. This is the
Place for queer writers with Mormon backgrounds
to pioneer our own collection of groundbreaking
memoirs, essays, and historical narratives. Send
your stories by October 31 to: This is the Place.
PO Box 1150. Bowling Green Station, New York,
NY 10274. Submissions should be no more than
5000 words, typewritten in a 12-point font, double-
spaced and single-sided. Please include a cover
letter with brief bio and contact info, as well as
a self-addressed stamped envelope of sufficient
size for the return of your manuscript. Email
thisistheplace@riseup.net for full guidelines.
WANTED: RARE, positive stories from people
who have worked with Scott Beibin and/or Lost
Film Festival. These stories will be compiled
for an itty-bitty-mini-zine. PLEASE NOTE: these
stories should NOT be about great films that
you have seen or helped screen at a Lost Film
Festival event, as Mr. Beibin most likely had little,
if anything, to do with creating these wonderful
films. Please send your stories to boxcutterrebe
llion@graffiti.net by June 1, 2004. We will also
welcome 250 word submissions detailing why you
think the Beibin Brigade and the Lost Film Leech
Machine are not welcome in your town anymore
- for a possible future Clamor article.
STICKERS: "If we're so free, why am I driving
to work?" "Overpopulation - The ultimate child
buse." "Civilization is a pyramid scheme." $1 +
SASE each. Send cash or MO to: The Wild Nuts
Collective, PO Box 2301, Redway. CA 95560.
CALIFORNIA ZINESTERS: If you are interested
in having your zine become a part of the San
Diego State University "West Coast Zine
Collection," please contact Annie Knight at
digress@9250x.com.
PUNK PAPERS Three punk/academics
are currently co-editing a collection on the
contemporary (post-1980) punk and hardcore
scenes. We are writing to invite contributions to
the volume by punks/activists, most likely (though
this is not a requirement) those who also have one
foot in academia. The book will consider issues
such as resistance, commodification, social class,
geography, identity (gender, race, sexual diversity,
etc), and activism. While we welcome ideas for
contributions, we are less interested in those
which are simply descriptions of local scenes or
aspects of the punk movement. Each contribution
should address larger theoretical and political
issues in an explicit manner. We are looking
for chapters of 4,000 to 6,000 words written
for academic readers as well as punks looking
for serious discussion of their movement. The
deadline is July 1, 2004. For more information,
please write to bookofpunk@yahoo.com.
because sometimes life just happens too fast
for bimonthly magazines ...
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For more information, visit us online.
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If you would like to receive free copies to take to
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hip hop
hardcore
punk
indie rock
graf writers
breakers
artists
zinesters
rabble rousers
MAKE SOME NOISE
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July 31, 2004
Toledo, Ohio
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Unless noted, all contributors can be reached care of
Clamor, PO Box 20128. Toledo, OH 43610.
Sarah Baeckler (p 48) is a pnmatologist working to
end the use of great apes in entertainment She learned
about Jane Goodall in the fourth grade and never looked
back. Reach her at sarah@chimpcollaboratory.org
Brandon Bauer (p. 12) is an artist living and working
in Milwaukee. Wisconsin. His work has been shown
nationally and internationally Brandon was an editor
and contnbuted research for the book Peace Signs:
The Anti-War Movement Illustrated, which is a collection
of posters and graphics from around the world against
the U.S. led invasion of Iraq. A DVD of Brandon's
expenmental video titled "Signaldrift: a day under the
city" was released by Lowave in May 2003. Brandon can
be reached at random12@hotmail.com.
In between breaks from the drawing table, Jerry
Business (p. 37) can be found nding bikes and drinking
coffee. Most of the time though he's holed up in his
apartment with his dog Muggs, drinking coffee, and
sketching franticly. Mr. Business grew up in Boston and
Attended Massachusetts College of Art. Currently he's
scraping by freelancing design and illustration in San
Francisco.
Shannon Carson (p. 14) has a passion for learning.
and reads anything she can get her hands on, time
permitting. She writes and researches diverse aspects
of American culture and development. She is also very
active politically, on both a national and local level. Email
her at 20thstreetannex@excite.com.
Michelle Chen (p 62) published five issues of her zine,
cain, and ran the Alternative Library and Resource
Center of New Haven before running off to China on
a research fellowship in the fall of 2003. She is now in
Shanghai researching the migrant worker population,
and her travel-related ramblings can be found at
Onefortytwo.com. Email her at cainzine@yahoo.com.
Leilani Clark (p. 64) currently lives in San Diego She
is a substitute teacher, writer, basement musician and
graduate student. She recently completed the first in
a series of zmes titled A Watcher of Birds and is also
working on a compilation entitled Cultivating Monkness.
Contact her at lmclark27@yahoo.com.
Christina Cooke (p. 58) currently lives in Portland,
Maine, where she works for a local magazine, writing
articles about things like llama farms and whoopie
pies She produced the piece featured in Clamor as
a student in the graduate-level wnting program at the
Salt Institute for Documentary Studies Contact her at
xtinacooke@yahoo.com.
Melita Curphy (p 55) AKA Missmonster. spends her
time making monsters, teaching at a college, and
laughing at farts See more at Missmonster com.
Amy DeVoogd (p 36) is an artist-for-hire with a Dutch
last name Learn more at Devoogd.com
Joe Diffie (p. 37) resides in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
After graduating from Hendnx College, he took up
a lucrative career delivering pizza for the man He
works with the Arkansas Indymedia Center, ihe
Northwest Arkansas Peace Coalition, and any other
lost cause that strike his fancy. He can be reached
at joediffie@hotmail com by anyone interested in
discussing Wal-Mart's plans for global domination, or
to go out for a game of stick and a cheap draft
Rob Eshelman (p. 29) is an anti-capitalist dissident
currently based in San Francisco. His articles have
appeared in the Brooklyn Rail, Counterpunch,
and Electronic Iraq. He can be emailed at
robeshelman@riseup.net.
Rachel Gazda (p. 14) currently lives and works in
Philadelphia. Her work with the Kensington Welfare
Rights Union (part of the Poor People's Economic
Human Rights Campaign) included organizing a 2002
Media Conference as well as coordinating press
and media for the New Freedom Bus Tour. For more
information visit: www.kwru.org or contact Rachel at
rachel_kr_gazda@hotmail.com
Mike Gonzales (p. 9) is a full-time taxi driver and part-
time activist living and working in Madison. Wisconsin,
and can be reached at mikegonzales@nseup.net.
Jennifer Grant (p. 45) is a sex toy geek who runs her
online erotic boutique, ilovexor.com, from the city of
fallen angels. A.K.A. Dr. Red, she also gives advice to
the sexually frustrated. She works to uphold and defend
the basic human right to sexual pleasure, satisfaction
and freedom. All this takes up most of her time, but she
is rarely bored. Email her at doctorred@ilovexor.com
Despite being unemployed. Shawn Granton (p. 54) is
always busy. Not as busy drawing comix like he should
(you can peep the latest by sending a measly buck to
P.O. Box 14185, Portland, OR 97293-0185), but just
busy. Portland sorta does that to you. Does this blurb
make any sense? Confused 9 Email him at tfrindustries
@scribble.com.
Jessica Hoffmanns work (p. 42) has appeared in
numerous publications, including Bitch. Kitchen Sink,
Nervy Girl, and LOUDmouth. She loves getting e-mail,
so indulge her at chickenrothbaum@hotmail.com.
Willie Johnson (p. 23) is student minonng in art and
majonng in journalism. Currently he is working with
a collective of students to put together a progressive
zine. To see his artwork, to contact him. or to see details
about the zine, visit Killtheelite.com.
Anna Lappe (p. 20) lives in Brooklyn, New York. Her
first book, Hope's Edge, co-wntten with her mother,
is part-journey and part-thought piece explonng
grounded alternatives to corporate globalization.
SeeHopesedge com She can be reached at:
anna@smallplanetfund.org.
Victoria Law (p. 36) has been working with pnsoners
and around pnson issues for over a decade Since
2000. she has concentrated specifically on the issues
and struggles of incarcerated women She is a co-editor
of the zine Tenacious: Art and Writings from Women in
Pnson and a volunteer for New York City Books Through
Bars Email her at: vikkiml@yahoo com.
Susan Leem (p. 39) is thinking of applying for Canadian
citizenship because she is fan of single-payer health
care, but she likes Minneapolis and working at Anse!
bookstore too much.
Tess. Lotta (p. 61) is a graduate student, wnter, and
musician living in Los Angeles Currently, she's working
on new zine. Penny Dreadful, as well as a poetry
collection and solo recording project
Kari Lydersen (p. 32) is a journalist based in Chicago
and an instructor in the Urban Youth International
Journalism Program Reach her at kanlyde@aol.com.
Nick Mamatas (p. 12) is the author of the Lovecraftian
Beat road novel Move Under Ground (Night Shade
Books) and the recent collection 3000 MPH In Every
Direction At Once: Stones And Essays (Pnme Books).
He recently edited The Urban Bizarre. (Pnme) an
anthology of city stones by zmesters, fantasists, and
pornographers. His reportage and fiction regularly
appears in the the Village Voice. Razor. Fortean Bureau.
and other neat magazines Nick was recently elected to
the Board of Trustees of the Horror Wnters Association,
but the opinions expressed in his article are solely his
own.
Anne Elizabeth Moore (p. 23) is standing by to take
your questions now at anne@heykidz.org
Isis Phillips (p. 20) works at Democracy Now! She is
also a New York-based freelance photographer and can
be reached at isisfoto@aol.com.
Samuel Pixley (p. 52) is a member of The Everland
Collective in Winona, MN. which sponsors community all-
ages art, music, and activistevents. He'd like to have more
time and energy for ongoing collaborations (filmmaking,
sloganeenng & stenciling, improv horn playing,
DJ'ing), but habitually works too much. Encourage
him to pnontize at sectoro@hotmail.com.
Emily Sloan (p. 55) ndes her fixed gear bicycle to work,
food, and fun in Houston. Starting in August, she will pursue
her M.D./Ph.D degrees at the University of Virginia
Charles Spano (p. 48) is a documentary filmmaker and
rock journalist Email him at: charlesspano@hotmail.com.
Joshua Stuewer (p. 9) is a cab dnver and activist
from Madison, Wl, who is involved in publishing
Madison's local and sporadically produced independent
newspaper, The Insurgent He can be reached at
joshuastuewer@hotmail com
Sunshine Mark (p. 62) is a multimedia artist operating
out of SLH, NJ. He is currently engaged in prepanng
a senes of cunousities. iconographic painted works
on canvas, and vanous objects, as well as revamping
his website. Armoredbabycom, in which all will be
showcased He can be contacted at:
sunshine@armoredbaby com
Marie Trigona (p 25) is an independent journalist
based in Argentina and collaborates with Grupo
Alavio She can be reached at mtngona@nseup net.
Danee Voorhees tp 58) is a documentary photographer,
wnter, and global nomad More of her photography can
be seen at www danneevoorhees com
Stephen Voss (p 32) is a photojoumahst based
in Portland, Oregon He can be reached at
sv@stephenvoss com.
JT Yost (p. 16) is always up for drawing uncomplimentary
illustrations of George W Bush See more unflattenrtg
portraits at JTYost com
I
COOPBRaGiVB
work worth working*"
interview W\KeGonza\es
photos MeaganPansn
People put themselves through all sorts of weird
and uncomfortable experiences to make a living.
Five years ago, I was working in an iron foundry. As pan of the training video, they included a
portion on how to not evaporate yourself with molten iron. The fact that the risk of evaporating
yourself on the job was considerable enough to warrant its own time in a training video is prcttv
tucked up. The fact that I could sit there, watch that \ideo. and not immediately quit the job is even
more fucked up. But my father worked in a factory and those were the terms of employment I was
used to. So 1 did my job, made a living, and was generally pretty miserable.
When 1 moved to Madison, my self-deprecating employment tendencies led me into the food
service industry. But my tunc at the iron foundry imbued me with a cynicism not conducive to
waiting tables, and I was unable to earn a living. The irony was not lost on me. Luckily. I found
Union Cab — a workplace that respects my autonomy as a human being. That shouldn't be an
anomaly in the world of employment, but unfortunately, it is
Based in Madison. \\ isconsin, Union Cab Cooperative is a fully worker owned and operated
taxi company. It was formed by a group of Madison cab drivers who in 1979. after nearly a
decade of union-organizing drives, strikes, lockouts, and company closures, resolved to create a
cab company run by the people who drive the cabs. In effect, what they did was create an organic
democratic institution, putting the workers in control of the decisions that affect their livelihoods.
The membership elects a Board of Directors composed of fellow workers, which acts as the central
governing body within the co-op. It controls management, sets policy, and oversees a system of
committees aimed at involving the membership in all aspects of the business.
The 25 years since Union Cab's inception have not been a Marxist's wet dream. But in a world
filled with sweatshops and wage slavery, worker-owned businesses offer a revolutionary alternative
to the exploitation that surrounds them. Union Cab is living proof of the feasibility of a more humane
and equitable workplace.
On a ridiculously cold February evening, my friend. Mike, facilitated a discussion between
myself and three of our co-workers: Scott, Nan, and John. We discussed our roles as indi\ iduals at
Union Cab and how the co-op functions as a democratic workplace. All of us experienced cabbies;
we also had between us a mechanic, a dispatcher, two directors, and the president of the co-op.
Why did von start working at Union
Cab?
Scott: Because I was looking for a job,
I thought it would be fun. and I was
broke. I had a friend Terry [who] I met
in the basement of a leather bar. He had
a triple major in history, queer theory,
and sociology. So he made the perfect
cab driver, completely unemployable,
but totally smart. He loved the place.
And I thought if he loves it. then maybe
I could actually enjoy it.
Nan: I had always wanted to be a
cab driver, because you get vour own
office, and the only thing that's missing
in your cab is a refrigerator and a
bathroom. You have a great view. You
go all over the city. You meet lots of
people. You never really know what's
going to happen one minute to the next
That's why I came here. Fourteen years
later. I'm still here.
Do yon feel like most people have a
voice or have the opportunity to have a
voice at Union Cab?
Nan: I do. And it comes back to the
individual using that voice and being a
proactive, productive member. It's your
choice to participate or not. It's the
same thing as voting for an alderperson
or mayor or governor or president. If
you don't want to vote, that's vour
choice, but you still have that right as
a citizen. As a member, we all have the
right to participate.
Josh: It's important to stress the organic
nature of the democracy at Union Cab.
It's not like our government, where
voters feel alienated and unrepresented.
Here, if you don't like the decisions
that arc being made, you can talk to
the person that made them. You
them everyday at work. Hie democracy
is built through conversations with
indiv iduals.
Nan: Yet I think some people still do
feel that their voices aren't heard. Even
if they feel they've worked through
the system to have their voice heard, it
siill comes down to accepting what the
majority savs Vnd that's a fundamental
basis of democracy.
Scott: I think Union Cab is a republic.
I don't think it's a democracy. It's a
republic with a threat of a democracy
I very year when the membership
meets n\ a democracy. I he Board ot
Directors acts for the membership in-
between, but the Board always has to know that the membership has
the authority, at any time, to call a meeting and overrule the Board.
John: Which is a very important distinction, because of the trust that
we, as a membership, put into our Board. We basically say, "'We put
our faith in you that you are going to make good decisions. But the
second you step out of line and do something that I as a member think
is incorrect or harmful to the co-op, I can address that to you, and I can
address that to the membership, and I can act on my belief to remove
you. And I can talk to anybody and make my voice heard."
Nan: And I don"t think that we have a trickle-down system here with
trust. As U.S. citizens, we are supposed to trust the government, who
will protect us and take care of us. That's how we're bred. We know
that's all a bunch of lies. But here, not only do we trust our elected
people, we're also trusting our comrades to vote responsibly. We trust
our supervisors, which in a cab driver's case is the dispatcher. We don't
have a lot of cab driver dispatcher squabbles that other places have.
We trust the mechanics are doing their job. We trust the management
and the directors are doing their job. And we have safeguards in place
so that when that trust is broken there is an avenue to say, "Hey, wait a
minute. I really think you guys screwed up here. 1 really feel like you
screwed me on my trust and that my trust in the system
has been violated."
Do you think Union Cab Jinn lions heller us a business
because it operates as a cooperative?
Scott: Yes. because cab driving doesn't make an awful lot
of money. A lot of cab companies went under after 9-11.
We were hurt a little bit, but we've been way deeper in shit
before and we all hung together. We did what we needed
to make it better. "We," meaning the co-op. in its history,
did what it had to do to keep its doors open. And that's
why we're stronger.
Nan: I think sometimes the cooperative can actually
hamstring the business and put the business in jeopardy,
because often in the business world you have to make a decision
now. You don't get to make the decision in three months once we
get consensus and we can all hug. You know there are some real
fundamental problems with that. Sometimes our democracy travels
at such a painfully slow pace that we can't necessarily make good
business decisions in a timely manner. Now, would 1 want it to be
from the top-down in a traditional business model, where workers
don't have a say, and we don't ha\ e a w orker-run Board of Directors?
I wouldn't want to be a part of that. But I think in the
past we have failed to make decisions because of
our democracy. It has not been able to keep up
w ith the pace.
John: What you are saying is true, but I also think that because we are
a cooperative, and everyone who chooses to speak can be heard, we
have a vast resource of ideas. Our ability to adapt is much greater than
the standard corporate model because the standard corporate model
depends on a much smaller group of ideas.
Can vou talk about the growth of the cooperative a little bit?
Nan: When I was hired, I was one of about 1 1 5 members. And then we
escalated to 265 or 280. It happened in less than 10 years. Probably in
like six years we took on 1 50 more people.
John: It was just nice, steady growth'.'
Nan: No, it wasn't steady growth. It was poorly planned. It was a
spike.
Scott: Now we're trying to have a nice, steady growth.
Nan: Well, now we're trying to have a regular heartbeat. When I first
started here we were borrowed to the teeth and still borrowing. We
were a mirror image of our federal government. "I'll spend S66 million
a day and take on
$100 million
more in debt."
And 1 think that
we've learned
over the years
that, first of all,
we are going
to be around. I
honestly believe
25 years ago,
nobody thought
of that. And that's
reflected in our
policies. We do
have some issues
with an aging workforce and how you deal with that. That's really one
of our next, greatest hurdles, because you don't expect to retire from
a cab company.
Scott: Now we're starting to think ahead. And that's cool. I mean
getting 1 80 people to consciously participate and plan a few years into
the future is a really big deal.
Nan: And I think the most unique thing about Union Cab, besides our
politics and structure, is you are allowed to care here. It's okay to care
here.
John: You are encouraged to care here.
|£l This year is Union Cab s 25' h year of operations. Why are we still
here, despite so many challenges?
Josh: I think it has survived so long because it
requires a committed core of individuals, and for
25 years, people with interests consistent with
the cooperative spirit have been coming to Union
Cab. People who aren't happy with working jobs in
factories or restaurants, or wherever they don't have
control of their work environment, end up coming
here, realizing it's a pretty fucking cool job and
sticking around, i*
t
FREELANCERS
' 4'
St
UNITE!
Can Writers Get It Together?
Nick Mamatas
Brandon Bauer
hen Time Warner and AOL merged in 2000. they created a massi\e
multimedia company that controlled a significant slice of the ideo-
sphere: television, cable, magazines, Internet, high-speed access, and
content — everything from CNN to DC Comics was
under its purview. The Federal Trade Commission,
the government agency charged with keeping cor-
porate trusts from forming, let the merger go ahead.
After George W. Bush gained the Presidency, he had
the Department of Justice step back from breaking
up the monopolistic software firm Microsoft — the
case has ended for now with a slap-on-the-wrist
settlement. The image of a trust-busting government
protecting the little folks from monopoly capital is
no longer on the screens of Big Media. And wh\
should it be? They wouldn't want the little folks
getting any ideas.
However, there is one pernicious group
of would-be monopolists that the government
remains commuted to stopping. I'm part of
this group, as are most of the other writers
and artists listed on the table of contents of
tins issue of Clamor. Anti-trust legislation
keeps us from joining together to demand
more money for our work, because we are
freelancers Huge companies can merge together like
Voltron to create an e\ en greater menace, but freelanc-
ers, an ever-growing segment o\' the working population, are
cowering in the rubble of Voltron 's path of destruction
LegalK. freelancers do not have the right to organize. I he Wagner Act o(
1935 makes union organizing and collective bargaining an explicit exemption
from antitrust laws, but only for certain classes of employees. Naturally, indepen-
dent contractors of all sorts - physicians, writers, consultants, small business
people, temps, etc. are not legally employees. We use our
own labor to generate property, then license the use o\
that property to the big boys.
It's not a surprise that capital has pushed
main more people into freelance work
through firing and rehiring via temp
agencies, outsourcing, hiring consul-
tants, and homework and telecom-
muting. No unions, no collective /
endeavor, DO extra taxes, and no
worker's compensation I here were
8 6 million independent contractors
and 1.2 million temporary workers in the
US in 20(12. and trying to organize brings
the] l( down on our heads \fterall, we
might demand health care or even a
minimum wage.
'•',
The average member of the Authors
Guild earns less than S25.000 and one has
to sell work pretty regularly to top markets
to even qualify for Guild membership. In the
world of fiction, the Science Fiction Writers
of America and the Horror Writers Associa-
tion recently pegged five cents a word as the
minimum rate for "professional" publication
— half a million words of short stories per
year would bring in that $25,000. And this
was a raise from the old pro rate of three cents
a word.
Mostly members of the working poor,
freelance writers and artists are increasingly
at the mercy of the new media conglomerates.
Time Warner's magazine division demands
that writers sign a work-for-hire contract;
that means that the article belongs to them in
exchange for a flat fee. Time Warner doesn't
negotiate their contracts and doesn't need to.
There are plenty of freelancers looking for
too little work. After the Supreme Court ruled
that they just cannot reprint old articles in
electronic databases, other publications have
also demanded that freelancers sign all-rights
contracts. Smaller publishers have learned
the trick and are introducing language into
their contracts that literally break the laws of
physics. Here's a clause of a contract I signed
in late 2002 for a feature article sold to a
men's magazine:
Independent Contractor hereby grants
to Publisher all rights of every kind in
and to the Works, all translations of the
Works and all existing and future deriv-
ative works of the Works of every kind
(collectively "Derivative Works"), in-
cluding, without limitation, copyrights,
publication rights, distribution rights,
reproduction rights, rights to create de-
rivative works, the rights to publish and
publicly display the works everywhere
in the Universe by any and all means
now known or hereinafter invented, and
all future created rights.
"Throughout the universe," even though
time is not a constant, which means that there
is some area in the universe where I have yet
to sign this contract. "All future rights," so
after the sun goes supernova and our planet
is a floating cinder in space, the alien descen-
dents of the magazine's publisher will own
the pheromone-chain excretion rights to my
story. It's ridiculous, but try explaining the
curvature of the space-time continuum to a
small claims court judge. And the assignment
was for $3,000, or one-sixth of my entire an-
nual income, so of course I signed the con-
tract.
Baronets in the Kingdom of Ownership
A number of professional author and artist as-
sociations have thrown their weight behind a
piece of legislation called the Freelance Writ-
ers And Artists Protection Act, which would
allow freelancers the right to form traditional
labor unions. Predictably, the bill has gone
nowhere. But even if it were passed and even
if unions could successfully organize and
face down Time Warner, Conde Nast, and all
the rest, the fact is that freelance writers re-
ally are in a peculiar class position — they're
middle class socially even when they have in-
comes lower than members of the organized
working class.
Writers are still baronets in the kingdom
of ownership. Work-for-hire contracts are a
form of exploitation, but depending on in-
tellectual property for one's livelihood can
mean sympathy and solidarity with capital-
ism against the working class, even when a
fighting, organized working class can offer
better protection and more freedom. Too of-
ten, the fool's hope of writing the next Harry-
Potter is enough to turn a writer into a mini-
mogul preoccupied with property, copyrights,
and money.
Karl Marx is said to have joked that
it would be easy to eliminate private prop-
erty under socialism because capitalism itself
eliminated private property for almost every-
body already. Big Media's all-rights contracts
serve to proletarianize freelancers while
simultaneously keeping them competitive
w ith one another, aloof from other workers,
and unable to legally organize. For every J. K.
Rowling who goes up from the middle class
to capitalist class, there are tens of thousands
of writers being pushed into the working
class and yet too many freelancers identify
with Big Media; they think stronger intel-
lectual property laws will protect them from
their bosses. On the contrary, laws protecting
property only protect those w ith lots of it.
Copyright and intellectual property
laws are becoming ever stricter, spoiling the
commons of the public domain. Properties
ranging from Sherlock Holmes to Mickey
Mouse should be ours by now, but copyright
extensions and expansive interpretations of
trademark rights have kept them in the hands
of the big corporations — though of course
corporations like Disney made their billions
plundering the public domain for Grimm's
fairy tales, historical figures, and classic leg-
ends. My own novel, Move Under Ground,
combines the work of Jack Kerouac and H.
P. Lovecraft; writing and selling such a book
is much riskier now that it would have been
20 years ago. In the same way the agricultural
commons were shut down and people herded
into the cities to work in the factories created
the industrial working class, the enclosure of
the commons of ideas is creating an informa-
tional working class, one that had better pick
up some working class politics very soon.
Freelance writers are now where waged
workers were a century ago. The craftsmen
and artisans looked down on the unskilled
and kept the labor movement divided for
too long. We are in the same boat with temp
workers; hell, most of the freelancers I know
temp more frequently than they write just to
keep themselves in ramen noodles and toner
cartridges. Freelance writers and artists may
face both legal and socio-economic obstacles
to organizing, but we're going to have to or-
ganize anyway, because Big Media is going
for the jugular.
Freelance writers need to get past the
big-money thrill of writing commodified
nonsense for Time Warner or Bertelsmann
and choose a side. Let it be the side of the
rest of the world's workers. Let the kingdom
of ownership fall into ruin, because we'll be
better off living in a better universe — one
that our bosses haven't already staked a claim
to. •&
An extended version of this story is online at
www. clamormagazine. org/issue26. html.
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CO
Iraq's Labor Resistance
Shannon Carson David Bacon
Try to get a union started here in the land of the free, and you'll
find a working class that appears to be less than brave. The fact
that only 1 3.2 percent of Americans belong to a union is a more
accurate reflection of our society s perception of its freedom
than any document or romantic prose.
In Iraq, every factory has an active union. Every last one.
I his. despite the fact that unions are unrecognized and illegal
there. As such, U.S. occupying forces have decided to enforce
Saddam Hussein's decades-old ban on labor unions, going so far
as to arrest outspoken labor leaders. It's a situation that Iraqis
have met with resistance.
Though most Iraqis are pleased that Saddam no longer
rules their country, they have also experienced wage reductions
and price inflation since his deposition. These changes have
been dictated by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), the
governing body in Iraq led by the United States and Britain. In
order to achieve a living wage from the occupation government,
the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) has supported a
number of work stoppages.
Some IFTU members believe that the lower wages the CPA
has ordered are designed as a first step towards making Iraq
more attractive for those seeking to invest in the country. They
are very concerned with massive rounds of privatization planned
by the CPA.
Until now. most large businesses in Iraq have been state-
owned. This has meant that the profits from textile factories,
oil refineries, and other industries have remained within the
country's borders, thus sustaining the economy. When the CEP
allows for private, foreign ownership of Iraqi companies, new
owners will be able to take the profits from Iraqi businesses
out of the country. That very thought is what has emboldened
workers in Iraq to organize, despite fear of imprisonment and
investigation.
In response, the CPA has gone as far as to issue a public
notice stating that anyone who advocates "civil disorder" (like a
strike) will be arrested and treated as a prisoner of war according
to the Geneva Convention.
But so far, Iraqi unions have stood strong in the face of this
repression. In mid-December, the CPA tried to lower wages for
workers at the Southern Oil Company to just $40/ month. Upon
thrc.it of a strike, the CPA upped the amount to $60/month. The
oil workers still refused, demanding a $130/month standard. In
February, the CPA agreed to the union's bid — a monumental
achievement foi ;inv labor movement, let alone one that is
wholly illegal.
Fighting to Stop the
Chen Honkala is the national spokesperson for the Poor People's
Economic Human Rights Campaign, and founder of the Kensington
Welfare Rights Union (K.WRU). A former history teacher and social
worker with over 20 years of experience organizing poor people, Chen
Honkala also knows poverty on a first-hand basis. As a single mother,
she raised her two sons on welfare, mov ing in and out of homelcssncss
In 1991, Honkala organized K.WRU with a group of mothers on welfare
and began leading poor Philadelphia families in the struggle for living
wage jobs, health care, housing, and daily survival.
Honkala now spends much of her time coordinating the Poor
People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, a network comprised of
over 50 organizations of poor people from around the nation. This broad
coalition unites public housing activists in Chicago and farm workers in
Florida, temporary laborers in Atlanta, and unemployed miners m West
Virginia to work together to end economic injustice.
Rachel Gazda, a former KWRU organizer, had the chance to speak with
Cheri Honkala in February 2004.
Can you describe and dispel the "myth of the welfare queen "?
Cheri: An average welfare recipient in our country is a white woman
who has two children and stavs on assistance for only a couple of years.
Instead, the history of racism in our country has been used to paint a
welfare recipient as being an African-American who has nine children
and drives a Cadillac — something that is just not the case.
This stereotype has become so prevalent in our society, thai even
some people that really do live on the dole have come to believe it. 'Sou
have while people living on welfare convinced that the social welfare
system needs to be dismantled.
From what I'm watching right now around the country, all of us
that have been welfare recipients are current!) struggling to figure out
how to get through an extremely difficult period Welfare recipient
being sent to work two or three jobs without union representation, bad
hours, not seeing our children, and not having access to adequate child-
carc.
At the same time, main are try ing to figure out how to become part
of this larger social movement calling for economic human rights We
arc Starting to figure thai out People are making difficult choices to live
under a much lower standard of living than being on welfare to be a part
of this movement because the Situation in this country requires it right
now.
( tf course, myths about "welfare queens" impact this work as well
I he reality is that people in our country have been conditioned lo think
that there are only certain people that can lead in various struggles.
I here is little acknowledgement that a welfare recipient is a person
above Chen a wttngUty arrested on July 4 th at a demonttreton «i *ont of the ComtftAon C**r n
PhaadapM Charges were later dropped (photo by Harvey Frtde)
)ther War
Rachel Gazda . p . . M ftnUa u
talks with organizer Chen Honnaia
iaiiu> wmi ui & aboutthe ^
that has the strength to deal with all the nega-
tive things society says about you in order to
receive public assistance. This has been one of
our hardest battles, and it is not usually taken
care of by an "undoing classism" workshop.
What are the effects of the 1996 welfare reform
legislation and programs such as Welfare-to-
Work?
There has been a great public relations effort
by the powers that be to make it seem that
welfare recipients are responsible for the ma-
jority of problems in society — even though
public assistance is such a small percentage of
the budget.
The reality is that welfare recipients have
been placed in Welfarc-to-Work programs
that focus almost exclusively on service jobs
that are very temporary. Women have had to
struggle horribly in order to secure childcare
so that they can attend these temporary jobs.
There is a direct correlation between the num-
ber of children left at home alone, or who get
watched by siblings, because their mothers are
having to work two or three make-shift jobs
— jobs which don't give healthcare or a living
wage for them to be able to provide for their
children.
So what we are seeing is false reporting
in newspapers that things are getting better. I
have been doing this work for 12 years and
I've never seen things this bad in terms of the
amount of people that are having to shack-up
in one house, the amount of people that are
going without health coverage for themselves
and their children. I've never seen the waiting
list for state health care programs so long. I've
never seen so many children not having access
to immunizations and instead having to wait
months at health care clinics.
Especially if the Free Trade Area of the
Americas (FTAA) agreement passes and if
Bush remains in office, I fear not only for our
country but also for the rest of the world. The
motion will continue to go in the direction of
who will do work for the lowest wages, under
the worst conditions, as opposed to figuring
out a world and a country that values human
beings and pays them living wages so that they
can fully participate in society.
What exactly do you expect if the Free Trade
Area of the Americas agreement passes 7
What have been the effects of NAFTA.'
The FTAA is aptly referred to as "NAFTA on
steroids." Well, over three million people have
lost their jobs as a result of NAFTA. We expect
the FTAA to be even worse.
As part of the Poor People's Economic
Human Rights Campaign's march in August
2003. I got to travel to North Carolina, where
I met former employees of the Pillowtex com-
pany. Some had worked there for 25 years
Forty-five hundred people went to work one
day, and their factory closed down and is never
coming back. When that happens, it's not just
those 4,500 workers who are impacted. We
will see in the months to come that the closing
of factories will literally shut down that entire
town.
People in this country are going to con-
tinue to see their labor being replaced. If we
don't take back basic values about caring for
human beings — if the only way that a person
can have a house and eat is if they sell their
labor — then we are really in trouble.
Clearly, a healthcare system that is dependent
on permanent full-time employment is prob-
lematic. What do you see as a viable alterna-
tive to this system?
I see single payer universal healthcare as the
answer. I think that those who are very wealthy
should contribute to helping the rest of the
folks in this country, who have participated
in bringing billionaires and millionaires their
wealth. Collectively, we have a responsibility
to ensure that we have a system in place in this
country that values all human beings. With the
above: The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign at the Lincoln memonal upon arrival in DC. In August 2003 the group traveled from Marks,
MS through the south and set-up a tent city to call attention to the lack of economic human nghts in the United States (photo by Hans Bennett)
kind of healthcare services that we have avail-
able in this country there isn't any reason why
every human being shouldn't have full cover-
age so that we can have a healthy society.
You mentioned that the Bush administration
has been devastating for our country. Do you
put any faith in the Democratic candidates for
the upcoming elections?
We don't have any faith in a Democratic can-
didate, but right now we don't really have any
other choice but to try and figure out how to
get rid of this administration. Literally, the
invasion into other parts of the world, the pas-
sage of the FTAA, and having a world race to
the bottom are the things that we have before
us if Bush is reelected.
What arc some of the future opportunities that
you will take advantage of to get your message
out.-'
Right now we are working around the' clock for
a huge poor people's march planned for August
30, 2004 in New York City, marching from the
front of the United Nations to the doors of the
Republican National Convention. We intend to
raise the consciousness in this country. Not only
do we need to stand in opposition to the war
taking place in Iraq, but we need to address the
war taking place here at home. With 5 1 9 cau-
salities in Iraq and another 9,000 w ho have been
evacuated because of a major trauma we must
speak out against the war. But there are an even
larger number of people in this country that die
every year because they don't have a basic right
to housing; or because they are a victim of do-
mestic violence and they don't have a place to
go for safety; or they die in our country because
they don't have access to health care. These are
things we can change, "fr
To contact Kensington Welfare Rights Union
call (215) 203-1945, emailkwru@kwru.org, visit
nnw.kwru.org or write to KWRU. P.O. Box 50678.
Philadelphia, PA 19132.
3
3
ui
, Bracero 2004
CM
I How Bush Plans to Legalize American Sweatshops
Artemio Guerra
JTYost
When Bush came out with his guest work-
ers proposal in January of this year, J
was organizing Mexican immigrants working
for cleaning contractors in New York City.
That night. Guadalupe and Ramon, undocu-
mented immigrants from Mexico, approached
me and began to talk about their experiences
working for a contractor cleaning supermar-
kets in the neighborhood.
Many city supermarkets become hell-
ish sweatshops at night after they close their
doors. When the gates come down, janitors
like Guadalupe and Ramon are locked inside
the stores and are left to toil all night to make
those floors shine. Ramon has seen managers
disconnect phones and Guadalupe recalls see-
ing padlocked fire exits in many of the super-
markets he worked. Supermarket managers are
afraid the workers will steal or walk out on the
job and not finish their shift, so locking work-
ers up is a way to control them. If there is an
emergency, there is no way out, no way to call
for help.
On a regular night, a janitor can work for
as long as 12 hours. One janitor can clean as
many as seven different supermarkets in one
week. Guadalupe recalls working for 20 hours
straight and then being sent by the contractor
to clean another supermarket in a different part
of town. The pay is S60 a night or S55 if you
are learning the trade. Many of the workers
work seven days and over 60 hours a week and
will never see overtime pay. Others will never
get paid at all.
Guadalupe was fired last October when
he refused to work on his first day oft" in
weeks. His boss kept the last two weeks o\'
work as a deposit. Ramon was fired a week
later and the boss also refused to pay him.
Undermining a Workers' Movement
Under Bush's guest worker proposal, sweat-
shop bosses will determine the fate of workers
like Ramon and Guadalupe. Bush's program
proposes a temporary status of three years and
a maximum of six (if an extension is granted)
to the millions of undocumented workers al-
ready in the country — but only if the) get an
employer to appl\ for them [fthey are abroad.
they can enter the I nited Stales legally if the)
are offered a job by an American employee
who can prove no American worker will fill
the position. Bush's immigration program
creates a partnership between government
and business interests to control the suppl)
of workers and feed the demand of Amo
low wage industries Such a guest worker
program will impose severe limitations to the
rights of immigrant workers and their abilit) to
fight for justice in the workplace
American unions have experienced a
rapid membership decline in the manufactur-
ing sector as corporations continue to nunc
their operations abroad to maximize their
profits. In the last decade, new immigrants
have revitalized organized labor as the sen ice
sector grew during the economic boom of the
1990s. NAFTA opened Mexico"s borders to
American and foreign companies seeking
cheap labor. Bush's guest worker program will
bring cheap labor to the doors of the sen ice in-
dustry here at home. This new government and
business partnership will have absolute power
over the workers' right to exist in this country.
Workers will be discouraged to join unions or
fight for their rights by the fear of losing their
legal status and becoming, to use the term of
academic and author Peter Kwong. "forbidden
workers" again.
Bush proposes to "match willing workers
with willing employers." Guadalupe's reaction
to the program is that "whether or not it works
depends on what kind of boss you have." It
you quit or get fired under the guest worker
program, you will have until your current
permit's expiration date to find another boss
willing to apply for you — another "willing
employer." If you don't find a new job and
fall off status, you will be subject to deporta-
tion — that is what you will get for not being a
"willing worker."
Furthermore, the guest worker program
doesn't guarantee the more than 8 million
undocumented workers in this country the
right to obtain permanent residency. With a
cap of 140.000 green cards per year, there is a
severe gap between the government's current
immigration policy and the reality of millions
of immigrant workers.
From Operation Wetback to the Patriot Act
Recent history offers a clear example of a
guest worker program and its consequences.
When the United States entered WW II in the
1940s, millions of American workers went off
to fight the war. creating severe labor short-
ages. In 1942. the American government cre-
ated the Bracero program (bracero from the
Spanish word brazo, meaning ami), a guest
worker program that admitted as many as
500.000 Mexican w orkers per year to w ork the
land and han est the crops. Under the Bracero
program, more than 5 million Mexican work-
ers immigrated and grew roots in communities
throughout the nation. The war ended and.
since guest workers were not so desperately
needed anymore, the government orchestrated
Operation Wetback (yes, the government
called it that) and deported nearly 2 million
Mexicans between 1954 and 1956. Many of
the deported were here legally under the Bra-
cero program.
Most criticism from immigrant advocates
surrounding Bush's guest worker program has
been framed around its lack of an avenue to
citizenship. However, we ought to take a deep
look at the notion that equates citizenship with
full protection and recognition of a person's
rights in this country. For instance. Mexican
immigrants, the largest group of undocument-
ed immigrants, are not compelled to emigrate
b) the prospects of American citizenship. A
long history of troublesome relations with
their neighbors to the north and a complex
sense of working class nationalism prevent
Mexican immigrants from readily embracing
American citizenship, but once you arrive
here. American citizenship tums out to be the
only legal means to be fully recognized as a
person.
Any project of immigration reform needs
to provide an av enue for permanent residency
and rights and protections for immigrants who
are not citizens. Bill Clinton denied non-per-
manent residents the right to access public as-
sistance and a myriad of federal Iv funded relief
programs. His 1 996 Immigration Reform Act,
a precursor to the despised Patriot Act. even
made them vulnerable to indefinite detention
in the name of national security if the govern-
ment ever held any secret evidence against
them. Immigration advocates who believe that
the Democratic Party's presidential hopefuls
are the answ er to the plight of undocumented
immigrants ought to remember Bill Clinton's
appalling record.
Today, permanent residency in this coun-
try is simply a dangerous, unstable, and fright-
ening state. A guest workers program w ith no
avenue for workers to stay and grow roots
w here they choose is an attempt to sev er any
possibility of a new workers' movement ever
emerging in this country. If the immigrants
who began the struggle for the eight-hour
workday had been guest workers, the Haymar-
ket Square riots would never have happened
and President Wilson would never have en-
acted the eight-hour workday mandate. There
wouldn't have been a United Farm Workers
union and no Cesar Chavez if the Filipino and
Mexican farmers had gone back after their
visas expired. No Justice for Janitors and no
Adrien Brody staring in Ken Loach's retelling
of the LA strike in the film Bread and Roses.
Fighting for the Future
Guadalupe and Ramon, regardless of what
Bush plans to do, don't have plans to go
anv where any time soon. They have decided
to stay here, fight back, and demand their
back wages. Recently a group of communitv
residents joined the workers and picketed a
Met Foods Supermarket in the neighborhood
of Carroll Gardens in Brooklyn. They wanted
the supermarket's owner to show his face.
Supermarket owners should be accountable
for the atrocities of the contractors they hire.
Met Foods didn't want any more communitv
demonstrations in front of the store so they
fired the cleaning contractor who abused the
workers.
A week after the protest, the contractor
paid Guadalupe. He hasn't yet paid Ramon.
We are currentlv organizing other janitors
working for the same contractor. The labor di-
vision of the New York State Attorney General
is conducting an investigation of the wage and
hour violations.
\ new labor movement of millions of
workers like Ramon and Guadalupe is grow-
ing in the United States. Globalization has
destroyed the economic infrastructures of de-
v eloping countries, leaving many immigrants
little to go back home to. There is an emerging
web of local struggles of poor people organiz-
ing for economic justice that exists outside of
traditional political institutions. Just like the
peace movement emerged and took to the
streets to protest the war on Iraq, a new work-
ers movement will emerge as well. Bush's new
Bracero program must not be allowed to derail
this incredible progress. ■&
Greg MacPherson
Maintenance CDEP
G-7 Welcoming Committee Records
www.g7welcomingcommittee.com
REVIEW WORKING CLASS HERO
Greg MacPherson is probably one of the most under-sung singer/songwriters in N. America today. Americans have
yet to realize that we have a continental equivalent to Billy Bragg, but hopefully this short review takes a couple
steps toward changing that sad state of affairs. For those of you who are confused, I'm talking about the artist who
writes songs about life, liberty, and the pursuit of the aforementioned life without coporations meddling in the minu-
tiae of our work-a-day worlds. On this CDEP, Greg MacPherson covers The Clash's "Bankrobber" with a deftness
that debunks detractors (myself included) who think most folks should just leave The Clash alone. The standout
of this short collection, however, is the track "Company Store," which recounts a family tale told by his grandfather
who worked the mines in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. GMac brings working class sensibility to your doorstep with a
guitar and a sincere smile. Let him in, and ask him what's on his mind.
-Jason Kucsma
REVIEWS SOUND INVESTMENTS
Eyedea & Abilities
E&A
Epitaph
www.epitaph.com
Finally, a new album from
MC Eyedea and DJ Abilities!
It's self-titled and released
by Epitaph, but I don't hear
any rock'n'roll crossover, so maybe somebody's trying
to cash in on "popular Hip-Hop culture"? Whatever, I'm
not convinced that E&A are going commercial just yet.
Though they definitely have mass appeal. My girlfriend
listened to this while I was out the other day, before
I even had a chance to hear it myself. She tells me
later, "What's E&A mean? I listened to it earlier and it's
gooood!" So nice work fellas; you sold her on the new
record before I even heard it, and she didn't know who
the hell you were from the get-go, since she's more on
that Born Against, Catharsis, and Against Me! tip. Hey,
maybe that's the rock'n'roll crossover? Anyway, check it
out everybody, this is the second release by Eyedea &
Abilities, and it's dope. Personally, I'm not a big fan of the
battle style, which is where the roots of E&A onginate. I
don't understand how that trial-by-fire scene does much
for the unification of the Hip-Hop community. However,
this record is solid. After hearing the "Reintroduction,"
you'll be like, 'Damn, nice to meet y'all again!" The cuts
"Now," "Kept," "One Twenty," and "E&A Day" all got an
x-large "!" from me, by delivering the goods with tight
production and lyricism intact. The way E&A work to-
gether, jumping off of one another's sound is interesting;
you can really hear the camaraderie. "Exhausted Love"
and "Paradise." are the cool-out cuts on the album. "Star
Destroyer" on the other hand, is an insane battle anthem
from outerspace. "Get Along" is a nice, jazz-laden
interlude while "Act Right" features a message to the
misbehaving nightlife and "Glass" has an excellent build-
up that doesn't end with the finale you'd quite expect. All
in all, a quality record here with righteous productionthat
just doesn't quit from Abilities and confidence on the mi-
crophone that you can appreciate from Eyedea.
Micranots
The Emperor & the Assassin
Rhymesayers Entertainment
www.rhymesayers.net
If you are unfamiliar with the
genius that is MNPLS-based
Micranots, and you consider
yourself a true fan of con-
scious Hip-Hop, do yourself a favor by picking up their
2000 Subverse release. Obelisk Movements. This album
is a proper introduction; one that will take many listens
due to its mega-dense content. It's a senous journey
and a very important one, otherwise you're missing
a big piece of the Micranots puzzle. The conceptual
companion piece to Obelisk Movements is their recent
February 2004 follow-up, The Emperor & the Assassin.
which fills in the histoncal blanks to paint a complete pic-
ture of where this unstoppable duo are coming from. The
production is held down exclusively by DJ Kool Akiem.
a master in the art of sonic storytelling by layering nar-
rative soundscapes and meditative beats throughout
all Micranots releases In addition to what Kool Akiem
is saying musically, MC I Self Devine demands your
attention and respect as a true leader m the realm of
conscious lyncism He's an MC for the people, no doubt,
and carnes mad weight with his verbal spray, which is
always a tight and focused grouping on the target sub-
ject This album is complex in that there are stones within
stories happening throughout, as each transitioning track
speaks volumes It's a dark record but it's honest, as it
jreaks down the early histones of the artists coming up
n violent times. All the cuts are solid, but stand-outs are
Glorious" ("Death is the climax, everything is balance in
he cycle"), "The Origin (feat. Mujaheed), "Steel Toe vs.
The Rookie" (feat. Slug), "Eight Days" ("Keep yr head up,
egardless of the set-up, and don't let evil fuck yr head
jp, don't let up"), "Amerikalogy" (proper dissent theme).
Neutralize," "Violence" (audio-visceral!), and "Off Beats"
feat. Malcolm). Plus DJ Kool Akiem's "Intro" & "Outro"
on this record are classic to his style. In his own words,
Kool Akiem describes the production; "There is a lot I'm
saying on this album, but it's up to those people percep-
tive enough to discern the meaning of what I'm saying.
It's like contemplating on the meaning of a symbol. You
have to use your intuition, link things together, uncover
clues." Micranots are a legendary force, which serve to
champion the cause of truth and originality in all aspects
of Hip-Hop. As decorated soldiers in this game, they
deserve respect and infinite props.
Rjd2
Since We Last Spoke
Definitive Jux
www.definitivejux.net
It's been a couple years now
since Rjd2 premiered his
critically acclaimed debut solo
album, Deadringer (Def Jux,
02). The lag time between that and this recent follow-up
is definitely not due to a lack of work on his part. This
kid's a real-deal hustler for sure and one has to wonder,
does he ever sleep? And if he does, does he dream of
electric sheep? On Since We Last Spoke, which just
dropped May 2004, there are no recognizable guest
MC's like on Deadringer (which some like and some
don't). But there are no disappointments either. Per his
usual style, there's a little somethin somethin' on here
for everybody, from rock steady Hip-Hop beats to Latin
rhythms to mellow esoteric ambience to insane rock gui-
tar riffs. Rjd2 has created yet another full-length master-
piece of ridiculously dope instrumental music that comes
through as even more "soundtrack-ish" than his previous,
vhich is just fine by me. If you aren't well versed with his
)roduction style, he builds soundscapes using several
nachines as extensions of himself. Specifically, with an
\kai MPC 2000, up to four Technics 1200 turntables,
and a Vestax mixer. Though I'm sure these days and for
his recording, he's using even more toys and updated
ricks. But Rj's soundscapes are really something special
)ecause you can find yourself getting completely lost in
hem With so many layers of sound complemented and
textured, all created by just one hustling DJ, you gotta
wonder if the kid isn't a machine. Seriously, if you think
about it and give his records a thorough listen, he's al-
ready on that next shit as a robot in disguise. Go check
out his live set for an impressive show of tumtablism. but
be careful not to break your neck!
Various Artists
Embedded Joints
Embedded Music
www.embeddedmusic.net
The trick with samplers/comps
is that often they're a big
gamble for both the featured
artists, whose songs they
hope you like, and for the working class folks who fork
out their cash for a listen. If a specific compilation song
is subjectively bunk, what are the odds that the public
will buy that artists' full-length release? I personally don't
mind sifting through to find the real cuts that I'm feeling.
but considenng the hit-or-miss nature of comps. it can
be ruthless work. Luckily, Embedded production duo,
Ese and Hipsta, have put together a tight gnp of artists
for their most recent compilation release that dropped
March 2004. And honestly, there isn't much on this comp
that I don't like, which is cool since many of the featured
MC's and crews were new to my ears The opening
cut, "Check My Willz." featunng veteran Aceyalone is
confidently killer on both lyrical and production fronts It
kept me hyped long enough to hear "Adversity Struck,'
featuring Atom's Family (Vast, Jest, Hangar 18 & Cryp-
tic), which showcases the talented wordplay of those
four MC's, backed up by a crazy-ass frenetic production
track. Brooklyn MC, Tes. shines on "Bare With Me.' a
real catchy cut that hooks and sticks in your head; the
following Tes joint, "Main St." was decent too and pro-
duced by him to boot The Not For Nothin' crew of E-Dot.
Loer Velocity & Donnan Linkz contribute a three-song
offering that are all good; on "Eye Opener," "Uhhh Huh."
and "Story," their lyrical style flows well with their pro-
duction and I appreciated that. Babbletron (Calm Pete,
Jaymanilla, & DJ Pre) round out this comp, and I thought
heir crazy, bugged-out production and vocal skills on all
hree of their cuts were very cool and listenable. It was
ad of Ese and Hipsta to end this comp with a couple 12"
3-sides, although I liked the idea of their inclusion more
han their actual sonic offenng And so it goes. Overall, a
;ick-ass collection that's worth having around to im|
'our pals with. (But more importantly, to potentially
hem onto something they've never heard that di
heir support).
Various Artists
Definitive Jux Presents 3
Definitive Jux
www.definitivejux.net
OK. so I'm admittedly not much ^
of a sampler/compilation fan.
To me, it's especially irritating
when a label like Def Jux puts
out a comp that's nothing more than a collection of teas-
ers' lifted from upcoming full-length releases that'll drop
two months later. At least throw us a more substantial
bone, and include some previously unreleased material
or B-sides. (Though for all I know, most of this "sampler"
could be a virtual cornucopia of unreleased'B-side shit
My promo-bot review copy didn't specify.) So this puppy
dropped in March 2004 and to my ears, there are more
misses than hits here. Check it out though. I'm no Def Jux
hater by any means, as that'd be a ndiculous claim 1 I'm
crazy about those kids and generally support what most
of them are up to But comps like this seem like a waste
of resources to me, especially if it's getting pressed and
marketed instead of remaining in promo format. With that
said, there are some as should be expected dope cuts
on this thing. "Make News" by Carnage is way out with
its production style and he spits some real hot verbals
(MNPLS represent!); "Aquatic" by 4" Pyramid features
a kicked-back. smoky vocal flow that's nice, though
the bubbling bong thing is totally played out; "Medical
Assistance" by The Perceptionists (Mr. Lif & Akrobatik)
s hella cool and that's a collaboration I look forward to
leanng more from. "Weathermen Radio' with Ca°
i El-P is an example of great storytelling with a catchy
Jiorus to boot and I liked this cut a lot; "Oxycofjn Pt 2' by
El-P & Cage is a dark but well crafted story of love gone
iouth and the vocal exchanges in conversation format
s a smart technique; "Take No Chances' by Hangar 18
from Atom's Family) also sounded real good; tr>
cut ends on a high note with "Clean Living" by Rjd2. who
can do no wrong in my book And that s just the way the
story goes with the "sampler" scene, some get savored
and others get served.
all reviews by SMLPXX
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PINE VALLEY COSMONAUTS
'Executioner's Last Songs: Vol. 2 & 3'
All-star band fronted by JON LANGFORD plays their death card again to
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i'jl An'] 1 MM A.
I For 30 years, GP has been slinging
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that range from Motown to Nashville
without missing a beat. A swaggering,
soulful love letter to American roots
music. Available March 9th BS106 $12 I
DOLLAR STORE
Self-titled debut CD headed by sometime .
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progressions slathered with textures,
volume and loose angular guitar racket to
make a thick, greasy little platter. Budget-priced. BS 098 $10
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a day in the life of
I first heard about Amy my freshman year of col-
lege. We wore packed into a stuffed hall listening
to journalist Allan Nairn speak. It was 1991. Nairn
had just come back from East Timor where he and
colleague Amy Goodman had been covering the In-
donesian occupation. He described their vv itnessing
the slaughter of 270 East Timorese; how they them-
selves were beaten badly by Indonesian soldiers.
Nairn suffering, among other injuries, a fractured
skull. I was profoundly moved li was the first time
I'd met someone who had put his life on the line to
gel a story told.
Pacifica Radio's Democracy Now! began in
1996 as a daily election show led by Ann Good-
man, by then a long-time journalist Just after Sep-
tember 1 1. 2001. and within blocks of Ground Zero,
DN! began broadcasting on radio anil telc\ ision ev-
ery weekday, today, DN! is simulcast on more than
I (mi radio stations in the 1 nited States and overseas.
and you can heai it on roughly 25 National Public
Radio affiliates, watch it on Free Speech l\ and
inn public access television stations, and access
audio, video, anil transcripts online.
Anna Lappe
Isis
6:05 a.m.
It's six o'clock in the morning and I'm not at Democracy
Now' My alarm clock is still an hour from sounding, but
Mike Burke, one of their producers is there, doing last-
minute prep and compiling the day's headline news
7:32 a.m.
The converted firehouse that DN' and Downtown C'om-
munity Television Center call home is bursting at the
seams. DNl's mam office is stuffed with desks and moni-
tors, v uleotapes and posters. Waiting for the show to start.
1 sit next to a stack of books, with a couple ofTariq Ali's
Bush in Babylon teetering on top. Behind me. a poster
reads "IS Out of Humboldt County." I'aped on the file
cabinet next to me is a list of 100 cities and their college
radio stations.
The production team is testing camera angles and
mics 1 ighl computers and 12 monitors pack a small room
with a window onto the studio John Kern 's voice booms
out from the B-roll.
\ guest paces nervously. He asks me where he should
put his coat; I tell him I'm as lost as he is He glances
nervously at the monitors and to the empty seat across a
round, wooden table where he will soon be sitting
7:44 a.m.
Ann Goodman arrives, her arms spilling over with notes.
She gives a warm hello before she rushes into the studio
I he clock ticks toward S am
^DEMOCRACY
Someone shouts: "I'm not getting channel 7! I'm not getting
channel 7!" From inside the studio, someone calls out: "Wait, Amy's
not ready."
"I'm ready, I'm ready," she insists.
"She's not ready. She's still wearing her coat." comes the voice
from the other room.
7:53 a.m.
Amy takes off her coat, adjusts her headset.
The guest is now sitting next to me. He won't be on until the end
of the show. He's still nervous. I try to reassure him, but I'm nervous,
too, nervous for everyone.
Amy practices her lines: "On January 16, Nicholas Yarris walked
out of a state prison in Pennsylvania after spending two decades on
death row. DNA had proven his innocence. He joins us in our studio
today."
I realize I'm standing next to Nicholas Yarris. He's listening to
Amy, too, and smiles on the introduction.
7:59 a.m.
"Roll numeric, let's go. Roll music," Uri Gal-Ed, the Television Direc-
tor, commands. And the show begins.
Amy reads today's headlines: Iraq, civil unions, Kerry and Ed-
wards, Bush and the National Guard, Haiti, the proposed Comcast bid
on Disney.
8:13 a.m.
Thirteen minutes go by in a flash. I hadn't realized I'd spent all of
them on the edge of my seat. The show airs live, that means live cuts
and every mistake matters. Uri shouts continuously, "Take 5! Take
7!" as he edits between camera angles, choosing shots from a bank
of monitors.
They cut to their first guest, Hannah Sassaman, program direc-
tor at Prometheus Radio Project, a Philadelphia-based advocacy
group for low-power radio stations. She's speaking to Amy from a
cell phone on the courthouse steps of the Third Circuit Court of Ap-
peals as she heads into oral arguments for a case brought by several
organizations calling for a stay on the media ownership rules passed
by the FCC in June 2003.
Later when I talk with Amy, she stresses the importance of
this storj : "We have to cover every stage of the struggle for keep-
ing media independent. The FCC is creating rules that amount to a
takeover of our media, where basically 2, 3, 4 moguls will control
everything. It is essential to cover because the airwaves are ours,
they are public's — they are not their property "
When I ask Amy and others at DN! what makes now such a
ripe moment for alternative media — and how DN! has been able
to grow with relatively little resources — the unanimous answer is:
collaboration, frustration, and technological innovation.
Ana Nogueira, one of DNI's two television producers, put it
this way: "DN! is successful because it's the largest public media
collaboration project in the country. It relies on Independent Media
Centers from all around the world, it relies on small radio and public
television stations, it relies on Free Speech TV, it relies on people
who like our mission and want to donate technology services or web
support."
The support for DN! and other alternative media has also
emerged because people are fed up. As Amy puts it, people are "tired
of a media that they don't identity with — a media that they don't
believe in."
3
8:27 a.m.
It's the first break of the hour. Ana rolls B-roll from Iraq while music
plays. During these breaks and throughout the show, they use some
of then own footage and a lot that is sent in by supporters around
the world As recently as a few years ago, they all remind me. access
to this high-quality footage was next to impossible. And for on-site
reporting, the costs of satellite transmission were prohibitively high.
Now all that has changed.
As one of the best examples, everyone points to the reporting of
DNI's Jeremy Scahill and Jacquie Soohen from Iraq in the lead-up to
the invasion. Saddam Hussein was controlling all information com-
ing in and going out of the country. Only small emails could be sent
and satellite
"Our mission is to make * ran sm,ssion
m. m ■ was lmpos-
dissent commonplace in sibly cxpcn .
America." sive. But
w ith help
from Indymedia coders, Jeremy and Jacquie used an enhanced 'ver-
sion of Split, a software that dices video into small, emailable bits and
compiles it back together on the other end. And so for the year leading
up to the invasion, Jacquie and Jeremy produced www.lraqJoumal.org
with streaming images from the ground.
8:29 a.m.
Amy introduces her next guest, Michael Massing, who has written a
critique about the media's role in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq.
The speed of cuts and the complexity of the programming is diz-
zying. Ana later tells me this is one of their biggest challenges: com-
munication during the show to ensure seamless transitions and perfect
cuts. Broadcast networks spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on
the programs that create these "run-down systems." A price tag DN!
can't afford. So, in another collaborative effort, they're creating their
o\\ n. "Open Flows, a collectiv c. radical technology company, is build-
ing it with us," Ana explained. "Once it's done, we're going to make it
available as open source to any community group that needs it."
8:33 a.m.
Cut to a press conference w ith White 1 louse spokesman Scott McClel-
lan responding to questions about President Bush's service in the Na-
tional Guard: "The president fulfilled his duties," McClellan is saying.
The press conference is broadcast uninterrupted for several minutes.
McClellan again: "The President recalls serving both when he
was in Texas and when he was in Alabama." And a minute later:
"These documents clearly show that the President fulfilled his du-
ties " And again: "And I think that the lads are very clear from these
documents. These documents — the payroll records and the point
summaries verify that he was paid for sen mg and thai he met Ins
requirements ."
I can't imagine seeing a clip this long on any thing but C-SPAN
land how main people watch C-SPAN?). It makes all the difference
to hear \1c( lellan repeal himself over and over again, hul this sim-
ply wouldn't fit in the soundbite-driven news of mainstream media
\licr the show. Ann suggests a more precise term. "I wouldn't
call it 'mainstream media.' she said "It should be called 'corporate
media ' It is a minority elite. \ small number of pundits who know
so little about so much and comment on everything "
And we've learned a lot about the state of this "corporate me-
dia" in their coverage ot the war, \im argues "In the runup to the
war. the media got il all wrong." she said. "The) were simply the
megaphones ol those in power Bui now. we've got the media basi-
cally dome piess toi the V\ lute House \nd now I li.it we know they
got u wrong and the) know h they're still bringing on the same
people, asking how did we get il wrong? v\ hat about letting someone
who didn't get il wrong speak '
a
"The whole philosophy of journalism is to hold those in power
accountable to the public, to be the guardian for the public interest,
and to broadcast those whose voices we would otherwise not hear.
We go to where the silence is. That's our job."
8:59 a.m.
The show ends with Amy 's mo\ ing conversation w ith Nicholas Yarns.
As the cameras stop rolling. Amy reaches over and shakes his hand.
He looks much more relaxed.
With the taping done, the team immediately switches gears:
Transcriptions need to be made and put up on the web. fallout from
the show (including a call from a View York Times reporter who wants
to rebut Massing) need to be handled, and tomorrow's show needs to
be planned.
Much of what makes the show run. I hear again and again, are
the volunteers. Certain tasks, like show transcriptions, are handled
completely by them. "We have transcribers across the country," Ana
tells me. One of their transcribers, the guy who "does Tuesday s." even
emailed from an Internet cafe in Pans where he was on vacation. He
was waiting for his transmission to do his weekly transcription.
In addition to transcription volunteers, dozens of other people
are involved in the day-to-day operations: "We have one or two vol-
unteers in every day to help with the flood of administrative details...
We also seek and use highly skilled volunteers, from video techs,
database experts. GIS professionals, set designers, and directors.
We call on volunteers to help set up a temporary studio and at events
like a recent one in Berkeley with 3.500 people." Denis explains.
As Amy puts it: "DN! and IMCs are built on almost nothing ex-
cept the goodwill, curiosity, passion of people who are tired of seeing
their friends and neighbors through a corporate lens and particularly
tired — and afraid that that image is being sent around the world."
4:50 p.m.
By now, tomorrow's show is set. Amy. Ana and Elizabeth (Press.
the other television producer), and Mike. Jeremy, and Sharif (Abdel
Kouddous, another producer I are sitting in the studio. Ana and Eliza-
beth are finding footage for tomorrow 's show. Mike and Jeremy are on
the phones try ing to find the best people to interv lew.
The big-screen TVs are broadcasting CNN. We watch the sixth
repeat of the Jacksoo-Timberlake top-tearing Superbowl fiasco and
listen as a guest from the family Research Council laments the loss of
family values. We all look at each other perplexed when CNN quotes
Bush saying the media solution is to: "Turn the 'off button on."
As I sit in the studio surrounded by everyone hard at work to de-
liver news unfiltered by corporate bias. I think of Mike's words: "My
biggest hope is that DN' encourages and inspires independent media
makers to develop their own shows. If every town had their own DN'.
this country would be a very different place."
"( >ur mission is to make dissent commonplace in America." Amy
Stressed. "Dissent is what makes this nation healthy it comes out o\
the finest tradition that built this country — and we have to fight for
it."
Spending a day in the DN' world, it's easy to forget about the media
most Americans turn to lb give myself a healthy dose. I return home
and channel-surf I OX News. \IH . ( BS, and NIU II only takes an
hour 01 solo begin feeling disheartened 1 v en though DV is grow ing.
it siill only reaches a fraction of the American public Meanwhile most
people are watching maggot-eating identical iwuis on I eai I actor or
hearing the nightly news declare tonight's breaking story "the ending
you didn't see on Sex and the City " But as I feel my self descending
into despair, I remember whai \my said when I asked her how she
keeps her head up in a tune o\ as Orwell would have put it uni-
veis.il deceit: "We don't have a choice,* 1 she'd answered "We either
make the world a better place or we don't I prefer to try." *
Work in the Age of
Anne Elizabeth Moore
Willie Johnson
Reality TV
A 14-year-old boy in my home state lit himself on tire while
conducting a school project about how media affects youth.
I was arrested by the story, as I had recently begun working on a
book attempting to explain to youth (and the adults that work with
them) how they can affect the media. As a writer, I was intrigued by
the intricacies of the plot: copying a stunt from MTV's Jackass, the
Minnesota boy covered himself with mineral spirits, gazed into the
lens of a video camera, warned viewers "Don't try this at home."
and sparked a lighter. He covered over 65 percent of his body with
third-degree burns and had three major surgeries, but was expected
to ultimately survive his project about how media affects youth. (The
5/. Paul Pioneer Press, who broke the story, never reported the boy's
name in order, they claimed, to protect him from the media.)
The story didn't appear much on TV — certainly not on MTV,
and definitely not on MTV's Jackass. I'm not surprised. That show
would never take responsibility or offer condolences for the boy's
physical damage because it wouldn't fit the show's theme oiJack-
<miness. The station would not mention the incident because it
wouldn't tit MTV's theme of sexy, rock-and-roll rebelliousness, and
the story wouldn't get much TV play because TV itself clearly bears
fault. This was unfortunate: This boy made a clear and resounding
statement about how the media affects youth, but TV, in refusing to
enter into a dialogue about it. wouldn't allow his statement to affect
the media.
As a journalist, I wanted to find out more about this boy's
project and its disastrous results; but as a media activist and active
member of the media. 1 knew that this boy had come as close as he
probably ever would to the media again. And
this, too, was unfortunate: since TV wouldn't
properly tell his story, and he had probably
been scared off of telling it himself, it falls to
me and other writers to piece together what
he learned. And, more importantly, what we
can learn from him. This, in a grand sense, is
mj work.
I came across the story in a boxed piece
on the front page of the Billings Gazette while
on a cross-country excursion. I was struck at
once with the impact of this boy's mistake. I
was at the time traveling home to Seattle after
working with youth in Chicago on a differ-
ent kind of project about how media affects
youth. Everyone — kids and adults — in this
after-school arts program made a zine as a
way of responding to the media. The zines
we made in that program (and everywhere
else I went that spring) and the Minnesota
boy's video made the same point: the media,
including television, radio. Internet, newspa-
pers, magazines and even books, are influ-
encing us in negative ways. We don't like this
influence. It is harmful.
The statement made by the video of the
boy in Minnesota, however, was much more
N9
CO
effective than our zines. He was recreating
a "human barbecue" stunt in which a guv
in a fireproof sun covers himself in meat
and climbs onto a grill. As countless papers
reported, he even repealed the warning given
before IV stunts when he told people not to
try his stunt at home. Unfortunately, he was
trying it at home and it was extremely dan-
gerous It nearlv killed him. The message in
his \ ideo (which I have not seen and do not
wish to see) that we didn't point out in our
zines the message he didn't even mean to
convey, as it damaged him so severely — is
that the media lies blatantly.
And this was his mistake: in allowing
the media to exist in his life unmediated — in
simply recreating something directly that
he had witnessed on television — this Mid-
western boy was permuting a whole array
of damaging influences entrance to his life.
He claimed, ha ha, to "get it." He believed
(falsely) that he was in on the prank. "Don't
tr\ this at home," he inside-joked, perhaps
thinking his viewers, presumably all early
teens themselves, would "get it" too. Ha ha.
they might have laughed, had the stunt pro-
ceeded as the boy intended, as he had been
promised by television it would.
And had the stunt proceeded as the boy
clearly intended it too had he been able to
copy MTV ■"s./nc kuw prank successfully and
complete his home video unscathed — the
joke would have been profound. "Don't try
this at home," he would have been able to
repeat, in an ironic way, for the rest of his
life, knowing that he had tried it at home,
and nothing had happened to him. His v ideo
would thus have become infamous in that
Minnesota high school. I know. I might have
gone there Catching TV at its own game
was always good, clean fun when I was
growing up.
But the stunt did not proceed as the boy
had seen it on TV, because the media lies
blatantly. If not jn word then in deed. No
matter how many times we hear the phrase
"reality television." the two concepts are not
interchangeable, lla ha, you can almost hear
MTV. the inventor of that genre, responding.
IV even more than other media, is
tricky: it may tell you not to do something.
but it also shows you how to do the thing
you're not supposed to do. Given the number
of conflicting messages we all filter through
to make sense of TV, it is perfectly under-
standable that a boy could have heard and
repeated the phrase "Don't try this at home."
while trying something dangerous at home.
The media constantly convey untruths, bi-
ased opinions, and pointless trivia. Christina
Aguilera's hair color. Our exciting victory in
Iraq. That trouble-maker Ralph Nader. Pans
Hilton. Michael Jackson. Sex in the City. This
slew of pointless messages shouldn't be able
to harm you, but the boy in Minnesota proved
that it can.
Despite our full knowledge of this, all
of this, the media remain our primary sources
for information about the world. We learn
about romance from Sean Connery, about
happy families and healthy bodies from TV
commercials about life insurance and break-
fast cereals, about what's cool from Britnev
Spears, about communication from websites
like Gaia and cell phone packages like Ve-
n/on. and about danger and fear from daily
newspapers, owned often by people who
profit from the purchases of car alarms and
missile defense systems we make to lessen
our anxiety. The lesson of the boy in Minne-
sota is that we need to find a better way of us-
ing the information gleaned from TV besides
emulating it in our daily lives. Unmediated.
these messages damage us.
As I mentioned, it is my job as a writer
to find the messages in this boy's experience.
And in this case. I am forced to do so without
this boy's input. It's peculiar work, writing. I
couldn't have stopped that boy even if I had
been invited to try. I'm not a firefighter. I'm
not a negotiator, I'm not a psychologist. I'm
not his parent, and I'm not the inventor of an
exciting new barbecue-proof suit for kids
Ok. I am a member of the media, and that
makes the situation somewhat more confus-
ing, but my work is to describe for you what
we should and shouldn't — really, honestly
— try at home.
Don't emulate messages from the media
to prove how damaging the media can be.
Don't attempt to dismantle the master's house
with the master's tools. Make v our own tools,
be they /ines. videos, or exciting new bar-
becue-proof suits for kids. Re-mediate vour
media. Do your ow n w ork. "fr
SHOUT OUTS
Thankfully, the rate that people put out amazing
projects far surpasses how often we're able to put out
magazines. Here are a few things you shouldn't put
down this issue of Clamor without knowing a little bit
about. Plexifilm (plexifilm.com) has recently released
Justin Mitchell's (Songs for Cassavettes) Dirty Old
Town film on DVD. The film chronicles a day in the
life of Ted Leo and Pharmacists as they prove in
one well-edited hour of footage why they are the
hardest working independent musicians in the biz.
Even though the Coney Island show that is featured
is also the day that Leo succumbed to throat/voice
problems, the performance still shines. Another right-
coaster, Atom and His Package has sadly hung
up the Casio for the indefinite future, but not before
recording a CD/DVD of his last show for Hopeless
Records (hopelessrecords.com). The package is a
worthy tribute to the artist whose sincerity and wit
have won over thousands of fans worldwide. I'm
already looking forward to the next project, though we
may have to wait until after Atom and his wife have
settled into their new roles as parents before that
happens! While some legends hang it up, others are
S dusting off the equipment It's been eight years since
the Descendents have released a full length, but this
spnng they've launched a punk rock juggernaut Cool
To Be You on Fat Wreck Chords (fatwreck.com). A
skeptic of the reunion-genre, I was surpnsed by
the energy and insight on this CD — growing older
^eems lo have engendered an appreciation for
J5 subtlety without sacrificing the blistering speed and
I
f
E
5
E
pop sensibilities that won us over back in the day.
It's also a healthy "Fuck you, this is how you do it!"
to all the shitty mall-punk that's littering the streets
these days. A lot of artists have also spent the last
couple years trying to figure out how to capitalize
on the electronic rock craze that bands like The
Faint (where's that new album fellas?) bulldozed
the globe with — most have failed miserably at it.
We've commented in Clamor how Stylex brilliantly
fuse Devo and Brainiac, and now it seems that
Heartcore's (heartcorerecords.net) Addicted
2 Fiction are entering the ring. The female
Brooklyn-gone-L.A trio creates ethereal
pop and goth music that earns them a
seat alongside the likes of Ladytron
and Interpol, and while the CD is hot,
A2F begs to be seen live. Speaking
of the Faint, bassist Joel Peterson
has just released his second
release (Fulfilled/Complete) under
the solo project name Broken
Spindles Broken Spindles, in
my unrefined opinion, continues Saddle
Creek's (saddle-creek.com) perfect batting
average — putting out innovative records that are
also incredibly inviting to the average music fan
San Francisco's Deerhoof have been accomplishing
the same feat around the globe On the heels of
their 2003 critically-acclaimed Apple 0' release,
Deerhoof kicked off the spnng by releasing Milk Man
on Kill Rock Stars (killrockstars.com) The CD is an
overwhelmingly beautiful CD that is simultaneously
ominous and airy — disarming and inviting And while
some have said that Deerhoof have a tendency to
dabble in the inaccessible. Milk Man is anything but.
That inaccessibility has been a big reason why I've
never been able to get into Amps for Christ the
"folkcore" project created by ex-Man Is The Bastard
guitarist/organist Barnes. However the newest AFC
release, People at Large on 5 Rue Christine (5rc.com)
has been getting extended play around here. Don't
get me wrong, it's still all kinds of crazy (two versions
of Auld Lang Syne on different homemade
electronic instruments 9 ), but it's also a
beautiful intersection between
folk and hardcore — and
I'm NOT talking about the
aunk shit that assumes
something is folk just
ause it's unplugged This
authentic Appalachacore.
finally on the aural front,
'inbacks Armistead Burwell
(also formerly of Three Mile
'Pilot) has graced us with a new
under the name Systems
Officer The self-titled CD follows in
the tradition of other Burwell projects that foreground
haunting beauty with emotionally compelling (and
technically complex) arrangements. The EP will be
released May 11 by Ace Fu Records (acefu.com).
-Jason Kucsma
"We are working to construct an identity and thinking that reflects the
working class's and exploited sectors' specific interest and necessities.
The camera is a tool, another weapon."
-Grupo Alavio, direct action and video
Alternative media in Latin America,
particularly in Argentina, has played
a fundamental role in generating organi-
zation and direct actions over the last one
hundred years. At the onset of the 20 lh
century, anarchists in Argentina used the
printing press to mobilize workers and be-
gan a tradition of constructing outlets al-
lowing each group to create its ou n media
and express a multitude of ideas. Another
tradition these groups left behind is the
necessity to utilize the printing press not
as an end or purely as symbolic resistance,
but to generate revolutionary actions such
as striking, work slow downs, machinery
sabotage, and free love.
The adaptation and appropriation of
technologies has been one of the most im-
portant tools for activists to develop new
communication practices. TV-piquetera
is one experience emerging from debates
about the necessity for movements to
create their own media and to go beyond
limitations that alternative media has self-
imposed. Grupo Alavio and the Popular
Unity Movement-December 20 (MUP-
20), an unemployed workers organization
based in several neighborhoods in Greater
Buenos Aires, began working together to
launch media projects. From this collabo-
ration, a new and powerful organic media
alternative was realized: TV-piquetera. TV-piquetera transmits live
pirate TV signals during road blockades and from poverty-stricken
neighborhoods on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Media activists
Enrique Carigao and Ricardo Leguizamon launched TV-piquetera
in the aftermath of the popular insurrection of December 19 and 20,
2001. But the project did not take off until Grupo Alavio facilitated
TV-piquetera's first broadcasting experience during a direct action
on September 25, 2003.
It was during an ongoing piquetero road blockade at the Argen-
tine transnational beer brewery, Quilmes, that protestors transmitted
a live pirate television signal to a local channel. The antennas were
oriented toward the blocks surrounding the factory, where many of
the factory's 500 workers reside. One of the objectives of the trans-
mission was to counter-inform the mass media's criminalization of
the action by informing the neighbors surrounding the factory about
the conflict and explaining the piqueteros' demands for dignified
work. During the transmission protestors articulated their reasons
for the blockade, expressed solidarity with the Quilmes' workers.
and described what it's like to be a piquetero. Grupo Alavio also
broadcasted self-produced short documentaries.
Argentina's working class has been plastered by the economic
crisis while most economic sectors have profited from the intense
devaluation of workers' salaries. According to National Statistics
Institute (INDEC) 2003 data, unemployment stands at 16 percent;
meanwhile, the government considers the 2.2 million receiving pre-
carious welfare-to-work plans of 150 pesos (about 50 US dollars)
as "employed" in the census. Since the 1990s, unemployment has
swelled to levels never seen in Argentina's history. Today, 58 percent
of the population is living in poverty and 44 percent of the active
population is either unemployed or underemployed. Without access
to the factory and utility of tools for liberation such as striking, sabo-
N9
en
MEDIA
tage, and factory occupation, unemployed workers sought out new
practices for struggle — the road blockade, which is a method to
prevent merchandise from arriving to the market. Just as anarchists
organizations used the printing press, MUP-20 is using the television
transmissions to accompany the road blockade.
TV-piquetera has since broadcasted in several neighborhoods,
rotating transmissions and programming. During the transmissions
in MUP-20's community center, a shack in the neighborhoods in
Solano in the southern Greater Buenos Aires district of Quilmes,
piqueteros from MUP-20 participated in every aspect of the com-
munity television experience — planning the programming, produc-
ing the specially prepared news pieces, arming the studio, cooking
empanadas and pizza, raising the antenna and watching the program-
ming in the screening room in the movement's kitchen.
Like other pirate TV experiences, TV-piquetera ruptures with
dominant discourse and expropriates technologies originally aimed
for ideological control. MUP-20's publication explained the motives
for the transmission: "It demonstrates that we do not need to depend
on bosses and owners to make ourselves visible and communicate
w ith our neighbors. To tell our story with our own media is to think
w ith a logic different than that which the system imposes on us."
For the transmissions in Solano, the content of programming
was decided in plenary sessions for the broadcast. The first trans-
mission included a documentary about water pollution caused by
factories in La Florida, Solano, the same neighborhood where TV-pi-
quetero has transmitted. Piqueteros from MUP-20 participated in the
script writing, production, and filming and a group went with Grupo
Alavio to film and produce the piece. Neighbors reported that a meat
packing plant and other factories were dumping unprocessed chemi-
cals and blood into the stream that runs through La Florida. Nearly
every time it rains, the putrid, toxic water floods the community's
homes. Children and adults have chronic respiratory problems and
skin sores from the polluted water. While no media has ever reported
on flooding in La Florida, many of the neighbors expressed anguish
at seeing the documentary piece on water pollution in their neighbor-
hood.
Many of Argentina's social conflicts have been ignored by al-
ternative media collectives, who are fascinated with the spectacular,
making it difficult for them to cover and reflect on daily conflicts.
One of the debates after December 19 and 20. 2001 was the necessity
for movements to have their own media. However, there have been
many groups that have launched media projects, each group appro-
priating technologies and media language to reflect the thinking of
its group and affinity. While there is an obvious challenge to over-
come fragmentation among movements, there is also an opportunity
to construct new media projects and rethink alternative media's inte-
gration into social movements, direct action, and audience participa-
tion.
The second transmission included pre-edited news pieces about
the Quilmes blockade, which began by appropriating a Quilmes beer
television commercial the most expensive Argentine advertise-
ment produced in years to parody corporate representations of
elite culture with footage of piqueteros blocking the beer factor).
Other pieces included: the struggle for the freedom of political pris-
oners. Bolivia after the insurrection, resistance in Iraq, and a block-
ade in front of supermarkets.
Participation ol the audience and media makers in the I v-
piquetera experience has been one of its strongest components
Participants not only learn how to use technologies and audiovisual
language but also form analysis ol political and social conflicts (inte-
grating local, national, .md international issues)
I he most recent IV broadcast was during MlP-20's end o\
the year and anniversary street festival on December 27, 2003 I he
festival included programming, table discussions of the second an-
niversary ol December 20. 2001, food, and live music Into the night.
bands continued to perform with piqueteros filming the concert.
As the festival was winding down, two police trucks drove into the
corner where the audience was dancing. Police got out of their trucks
and tried to provoke a violent confrontation. Participants immediate-
ly mobilized to prevent the police from creating a conflict — using
sticks and rocks to drive the police out. The need for self-defense is
ever present as with the road blockade.
Local neighborhood Peronist political practices (controlling the
neighborhood through corruption, controlling families through cli-
entalism, and repressing youths with drugs and police violence) has
been re-intensified in Solano. Neighbors working with MUP-20 have
been targeted in particular due to MUP-20's community work. Gru-
po Alavio and MUP-20 are launching a counter-cultural campaign
(music, theatre, film projections, and TV-piquetera transmissions) in
the neighborhood to fight this repression and continue working w ith
the community. Grupo Alavio began video and press workshops w ith
unemployed worker activists participating in organizations in the re-
gion. The workshops are to be dedicated to women struggles and will
produce a video and pamphlet about women activists.
TV-piquetera's objective is to transmit in different neighbor-
hoods with the intention of ultimately building a network of commu-
nity television and or radio stations that can function autonomously
under a larger umbrella of collaboration and mutual support.
TV-piquetera is an attempt to use a media such as telev ision and
transform it into a tool for political organizing and liberation. Fun-
damental to the experience is to use media activism not as symbolic
resistance but to directly confront the state, boss, and politicians. The
transmission alone is only a symbolic act. but it correlates to the ac-
tions of struggle to reach social revolution.
For more information, visit wvvvv.revolutionvideo.org alavio.
Sleater - Kinney, Zillah Eisenstein. Inga Muscio, Mr. Lif. Elaine Brown. ♦
— _. _ _ music, activism, fiction, food, non-fiction, etc.
nit or
m o 9 o z i n e
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Statement:
Altar Magazine believes that
problems are not monolithic,
and neither are solutions. It is
imperative to have socially
progressive women and men
fighting on all fronts of the
movement whether that is
anti-racist work, feminism, anti-
heterosexism, economic justice
or any other political action.
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A forum for critical thought, coalition
building, artistic creativity, and activism.
Word on the Streets
street papers amplify the voices of the voiceless
Israel Bayer
Stephen Voss
In a time when media consolidation has taken
over the market, more than 47 homeless
newspapers in the United States and Canada
have taken a more grassroots approach.
Between 1989 and 1992, several news-
papers grew out of a groundswell of home-
lessness, seizing their voices and creating
their own media outlets. Today this has be-
come a movement for social change.
Street Sheet in San Francisco, Street
News in New York, Spare Change in Boston.
Street Wise in Chicago, Journal 'itiner aire in
Montreal, and across the Atlantic in London,
The Big Issue, were all unveiled in the late
"80s and early '90s, seizing a hard-earned
voice of people on the streets.
"The age old practice of hawking news-
papers has been a tradition for as long as there
has been a free press," says Bryan Pollard,
the former managing editor of Street Roots,
Portland, Oregon's homeless newspaper.
"Street newspapers are a true movement of
the people, by the people, and for the people.
They consist of concerned people working
together to get the truth and information to
the community."
Today there are nearly 90 papers
worldwide in 27 countries, all with different
voices. They range from small circulation
semi-monthly publications to popular weekly
newspapers that offer job training and social
service delivery.
"The street paper movement, with its
direct voice of the poor, immediate benefits
to homeless people, and possibilities for long
term change, is the past decade's most pro-
found innovation in poor people's organiz-
ing," said Timothy Harris, founder of Real
Change and President of the North American
Street Newspaper Association (NASNA).
In 1996, street newspapers across the
U.S. and Canada came together to explore
the possibilities of creating a network of
papers. The following year the North Ameri-
can Street Newspaper Association became a
reality when 37 papers agreed on a mission,
goals, and other strategies to build unity in
the movement. After only a handful of papers
survived seven hard fought years, dozens of
papers were spreading like a wildfire across
the country.
"NASNA is finding that the existing
street newspapers are growing in terms of
stability, staffing, circulation, advertising.
and its acceptance and influence in their re-
spective communities," said Michael Stoops,
a NASNA board member with the National
Coalition for the Homeless.
"Street newspapers serve to educate
the general community about poverty and
homelessness issues," Stoops continued,
"while bringing a much needed alternative
for people who find themselves on the streets
with no employment."
At the heart of most street papers are their
vendor programs. Vendors buy the paper for a
percentage of the costs of printing and sell the
paper for a dollar out in the community.
"Not everybody can sell street news-
papers; it's a somewhat difficult thing to
do," said Bear, a homeless vendor for Street
Roots. "It's work," Bears says with a swag-
ger. "I make as much money doing this as I
would make a job paying minimum wage."
In San Francisco, Street Sheet takes a
different approach with its vendor program.
The paper is one of the only papers in the
country to not charge vendors a percentage
for the paper they sell. "I would feel pretty
crappy charging someone on the streets 15
bucks for 100 papers, when they are not
making a livable wage." said Chance Martin.
editor of the Bay paper. "We are a dignified
alternative to panhandling."
Other newspapers are finding it harder
to survive working on shoestring, budgets.
What's Up magazine in St. Louis is published
every other month and focuses mostly on art
and culture. "St. Louis is [a] bit more conser-
vative; we couldn't just start throwing bricks
at the system and expect to see results," says
Jay Swoboda, founder and editor of the paper.
"That's why we've tried to raise awareness
through the arts."
Dan Newth, production manager, re-
porter, and a homeless vendor with Street
Roots says Street Roots has brought meaning
back into his life. "As a homeless vendor I talk
to people of all classes while selling the news-
paper and work to dispel some of the myths
about homelessness," said Newth. "The ability
to communicate to people and the feedback I
get with my writing is validation for me."
Many street newspapers claim they have
had to fight to gain respect among the home-
less populations of their respected cities, the
community itself, and the media elite. Street
Roots is no different.
continued next page
N»
In l l 'SS. Street Roots took over for the
former homeless newspaper, the Burns ide
Cadillac, with Bve homeless vendors, three
volunteer staff members, and a press run of
2,000 papers monthly. Today, the "homeless
ray." as some have called it, is a bimonthly
publication w ith a press run of 18,000 papers,
more than 20 volunteers, 50 vendors, and
three paid staff members.
People experiencing homelessness are
involved in all aspects of the organization,
from the production of the paper, to the
writing and selling of the newspaper. Street
Roots, like main homeless newspapers
throughout the country, take their lead from
the homeless population.
The majority of seats on the Street Roots
Board of Directors are either vendors who are
experiencing homelessness or have experi-
enced homelessness in the past.
"Street Roots taught me how to write."
says Newth. "I flunked English in high
school; now I'm writing articles and grow-
ing into an activist. It's enabled me to walk
within my beliefs. This is one of the few
opportunities a homeless person has for self-
actualization in Portland.
Vendors have created their own system
at Street Roots, working on a seniority model
that allows senior vendors to sign up on "turf
from 8:00 a.m. until 9:00 a.m.. after which
time junior vendors can sign up as well. The
vendors at Street Roots have full capacity to
organize themselves and the vendor program
to best fit the entire group. Vendor badge
numbers three and 13 are retired at Street
Roots, in honor of two vendors who died
while on the streets, one from a drug-over-
dose and the other from natural causes.
"I think it's one of the only venues and
publications that has reality and truth in it
from our perspective." said Bear. "It's our
paper!"
The future of the street newspaper
movement is wide-open. Every newspaper
is dealing with its own set of circumstances.
But one thing is for sure: the movement to-
w ards dignity and a free press has arrived on
the streets of North America and around the
world.
For more information on street papers, visit
www.nasna.org. The author works for Street
Roots (www.streetroots.org).
REVIEWS PLEXIFILMS
E
5
E
CN
Decasia: The State Of Decay
A Film By Bill Morrison
Music Composed by Michael Gordon
www.plexifilm.com
Let's just get this on the
table first — I love this
kind of thing, but I also
recognize that this type of
film is not for everyone. If
you are not a fan of "plot-
less," "arty" kinds of films
that do not fall into the
narrative or documentary
category of film making,
then this film is not for
you. On the other hand
if you are a fan of avant-
garde film making, if you
find beauty in the texture of film stock and the flicker of
the projector, or if you like the types of film experiments
that Brakhage did so well — like his 'mothlight' or his
hand painted films, then this is a film you should see.
Decasia was created entirely out of found footage.
The film is beautifully edited from old footage that has
been severely damaged by time and most likely by other
elements as well. I have seen first hand what mold,
dampness, and heat can do to film stock, and assume
these other elements had a role in the deterioration of
the material used in this film. The degeneration of the
black and white film stock and emulsion creates haunt-
ingly beautiful images Some solarized, some distorted,
and some almost completely obscured by the decay.
The haunting feeling of the found footage in this
state is heightened by the musical score composed by
Michael Gordon His dissonant orchestral score helps
to shape the tone of the film. With all of these elements
working together the film creates a hallucinatory experi-
ence The footage of eras gone by has the sense of a
fading memory, and a disconnect with our own human
past There is a feeling of both tnumph and futility with
images like a boxer jabbing at an amorphous blob, ba-
bies being born in solanzed negative, whirling dervishes,
obscured city streets, and anonymous faces that stare
blankly into the camera
In an age where near perfect copies can be made
by encoded digital bits without degeneration from copy
to copy this film is very refreshing There is a beauty to
the ravages of time that can get lost with the clean, ensp
aesthetic of digital technology. With this DVD edition of
Decasia you can now see the beauty of this decay in a for-
mat comprised of digitally encoded bits. It is worth it, and I
love that more of this type of work is being made available
on DVD. That said, this kind of work stili begs to be seen
projected in its original form. A DVD no matter how well
produced will never have the same warmth in the quality
of light as film stock does being projected onto a screen.
-Brandon Bauer
Space is the Place
Sun Ra and his Intergalactic Arkestra
Directed by John Coney, 1974
Re-released by Plexifilm, 2003
www.plexifilm.com
There has never been
another musician quite
like Sun Ra. He was truly
a musical maelstrom.
Playing for more than fifty
years, and releasing over
100 albums he continues
post-mortem to be one of
the most admired and in-
fluential jazz musicians in
history He experimented
with electronic instru-
ments, African chanting
and unusual percussion
instruments. In addition to his unusual musical palate.
Ra incorporated into his repertoire glittery space-age
costumes, Egyptology, astrology, an other-worldly
mythology (he said he was from Saturn), and a black
liberation philosophy that involved saving the black race
by transporting them to space
And now his 1974 cult classic feature length movie
"Space is the Place", a melding of 70's blaxploitation,
sci-fi. psychedelia and Ra's own liberation philosophy,
has been re-issued thirty years later from the depths of
obscunty
The basic storyline is as follows: Ra, wanting to
liberate the black race, comes down to earth from years
of space travel in his music-fueled spaceship He has
found a suitable planet for the black race to inhabit,
free of racism and oppression. Landing in Oakland,
California in 1972, he tnes to convince disenfranchised
blacks to come with him into outer space All the while
his nemesis, the Overseer, a pimp-like figure profiting
from the exploitation of the black race, is trying to outdo
/f~*£6
him for control. They vie in an extra-dimensional card
game with cards drawn by each of them to determine
how the events in the movie will proceed and use an
abacus to keep score. Ra is also being trailed by the FBI
and NASA, both of whom wish to find the secrets of his
black space program. He is ultimately forced to return to
space, able to save only a few souls, only moments be-
fore the earth explodes (we're not really sure, however,
why this happens).
I must say, a cinematic masterpiece it is not There
are numerous holes in the plot, the acting is pretty bad,
and the movie as a whole clumsily lumbers along, more
collage-like than narrative. Being collage-like is not
necessarily a problem, but it seems to want to be a
narrative and falls a bit flat in that regard. Whoever was
doing continuity must have been completely stoned as
things often don't match up from shot to shot. Some of
the scenes are really hokey and out of place, like when a
woman's pastie flies out of her bra. supposedly from the
intensity of Ra's piano playing as he pounds away on a
smoking piano in a nightclub, or the random menage a
trois at the hospital between two nurses and the Over-
seer. In another scene that I found puzzling Ra gets a bit
heavy handed on some black youth. He basically says
that if they don't come with him into space he'll "chain
them up and make them go. just like the slave traders *
I don't get that one liberation through enslavement 7 ?
The film also has a large dose of sexism, which could
be dismissed as merely a sign of the times, but was dis-
appointing nonetheless Basically, every woman in the
entire film is a boy toy, overly sexually eager and hanging
on the men, ready to actualize male fantasy.
Don't get me wrong though, in spite of its shortcom-
ings the film is entertaining in many ways, and without a
doubt bizarre The b-movie style special effects are clas-
sic. The live Arkestra performances are great And I was
tickled when the NASA thugs try to torture Ra by making
him listen to Yankee Doodle as they interrogate him on
how he converts music to energy. Also to its credit, the
film does attempt to address many of the social problems
affecting the black community, suggesting a spiritual
awakening as part of the solution, as well as other, more
tangible solutions
As someone who loves Sun Ra's music in its eccen-
tricity, as well as its sociopolitical undertones. I came to
the movie with rather high expectations. The film wasn't
as deep, enlightening or wise as I had hoped it would
be. nor as engaging visually or conceptually, but it was
amusing to watch and a must-see for Sun Ra fans
-j powers
%
/'■
h\
The Fixer
brings outsiders
to get the truth ©IT
about what's really happening in Iraq
Driving on this road feels suicidal. Less than 24 hours ago. two
French guys were capped along this section ofpavemenl wesl
of Baghdad. Although we are not OGAs — the often-targeted spooks
from Other Government Agencies — or. like the deceased, high-paid
contractors, there is no way to predict today's target of the Iraqi
insurgents who stalk the highways between Fallujah and Ramadi.
My palms are sweaty and I can't understand how the dapper 27-
year-old riding in the passenger seat of the mini-van can be singing
and snapping his fingers to Arabic pop music so joyfully amidst this
danger.
But the passenger, named Mahr, is used to this stress. He is
a fixer — someone whose job it is to arrange, or fix. interviews
important to a visiting journalist's story. Arriving in Ramadi, or
the "wild, wild West" as one of my colleagues calls it, Mahr gets
to work. Jumping from the vehicle, he races into a large, beautiful h
tiled mosque adjacent to a busy marketplace in the town's center.
We're seeking out a prominent sheikh who can give us some insight
into abuses dealt out by the Army's 82nd Airborne, currently
operating in this area of central Iraq. A long five minutes passes and
Mahr emerges from the mosque's courtyard. Smiling, he re-enters
the van w ith directions to the sheikh's home nearby.
Mahr's work comes with enormous emotional pressure. By
escorting reporters through Iraq's cavalcade of disaster, he hopes they
w ill truthfully portray events and help bring justice to the Iraqi people.
Every day. he witnesses the death, destruction, and humiliation
cruelly administered by the US-led occupation. Daily, he puts himself
as close as possible to the pain of the Iraqi people in order for their
story to be told. Thus, he absorbs hundreds, thousands of horrific tales
and shoulders the collective misery of all those he meets.
A few days after our trip to Ramadi, Mahr and I are relaxing
at Saj al-Riff. a trendy pizza joint located in a Christian section
words and photos Rob Eshelman
of Baghdad's Karada neighborhood. For three weeks, we've been
working together. We've spent our time in towns openly rebelling
against the Americans: Samarra. small villages around Tikrit, the
Adhamiya neighborhood of Baghdad, and the "wild, wild west."
The resistance, we've found, is pretty active. So, too, is the American
counter-insurgency. We've witnessed an intense collective punishment
of the people of the so-called "Sunni Triangle" and thus are in need
of some down time to reflect and recharge our batteries. Pizza, a few
beers, and a couple of mornings of sleeping in are the only things on
our schedule.
At Saj al-Riff, we begin our decompression. Here, nicely suited
men on their lunch breaks mingle with young couples laughing,
talking, and playfully flirting with one another. Protruding from the
wood-panelled walls of the restaurant, small television screens play
music videos. The iconic images, along with the sounds of the nearby
conversations, create an oasis-like environment. For a moment, it's
easy to forget we're inside a devolving metropolis of six million and
a country seething under a foreign military presence. In this sublime
environment, I take the opportunity to learn a little about Mahr.
After the March 2003 bombing subsided, work was scarce and
times were desperate in Baghdad. Service sector employment, such as
driving a cab or selling products on the street, was out of the question.
Crime soared — physical attacks and car-jackings were a regularity
after sundown. Mahr, though, had an important asset — he could
speak English.
The heavily fortified Palestine and Sheraton hotels are ground
zero for the international press corps. Mahr began to spend much of
his time there. By schmoozing a Marine who was regularly posted
on the hotel's perimeter, he was able to access the Fourth Estate and
canvass those inside for work. After a few weeks of networking, he
landed his first gig with an Italian documentary film crew.
continued next page
rss
Meager job opportunities and possessing the essential translation
skills weren't the onl) reasons lie became a fixer. Mahr grew up in
Baghdad's Adhanma neighborhood - home to many Baathist
apparatchiks during the Saddam years and now an epicenter of
fierce opposition to the American-led invasion. For the bulky ex-
weighthfter. the people of Iraq are all part of his extended family. An
attack on them is an attack on him. Witnessing attacks by US forces in
his neighborhood triggered a need to do something. He felt he could
not stand by and watch his family be harmed by a brutal foreign force.
He had to fight the occupation — but in his own way. "I am part of the
resistance.'' he says. His charming personality, personal connections,
and Adhamiya pedigree enable him to fix interviews with prominent
Iraqis and to enter the homes of victims who might not otherwise be
willing to speak openly with international journalists.
Showing the nature of the American military occupation doesn't
just involve portraying Iraqis as victims, he says. It always requires
show ing their strength. "When you go and see someone whose house
has been demolished, you can see that they are angry. But you will
also sec them smile. This shows how strong the Iraqis are. This makes
me proud of my people."
Mahr doesn't work lor just anyone. He is acutely aware of the
politics of corporate news agencies. Offered a job two weeks ago by a
large media company he declined. He says he doesn't like to lie and
news agencies like Fox and CNN are lying. Or, to a lesser degree,
conservative editors often reel in reporters willing to follow a good
lead. "I can't tell them the truth. They are like the soldiers. They don't
have the right to say what they want."
Shunning steady work and good pay. he continues to help
hard-nosed independent journalists and filmmakers. "I know these
journalists are small — not widely published. They try to tell the truth,
though. I want everyone to know what's happening to my country."
Mahr's contempt is not reserved just for the international
press corps. He holds many of the Non-Government Organizations
currently working in Iraq in equally low regard. Accusing most of
doing nothing but collecting paj checks and partying at their hotels.
Mahr's litmus test for an NGOer's credibility is simple: are they out
in the street helping Iraqis'' Mahr says most aren't and so he doesn't
work w ith them either.
The subject of our conversation turns to the future. Will the
Americans leave? What about the Shia protests demanding direct
elections '.' Mahr isn't optimistic about the immediate path ahead.
"In a forest fire, the live tree will burn with the dead tree." he says.
Ultimately, though, he believes the pride and strength of Iraqis will
prevail. He provides a poetic analogy: "A pregnant woman gi\ing
birth will cry. But when she sees her child — she will forget the pain.
Iraq is like this baby. We see Iraq and the Iraqi people and it puts a
smile on our face."
Families who've lost lo\ed ones or have had homes or property
destroyed weigh heavily on Mahr's conscience. The constant exposure
to the destruction of Iraq is clearly getting to him. I ask him where he
would like to see himself in the future. He laughs cynically and says,
"III want a future. I must leave this country." Not an easy decision for
a man who is immensely dedicated to making Iraq a free and thru ing
society. Also, this is a dream given that he has no passport and Iraq has
no government to issue these documents.
We've barely touched our food and the need for beers has
hit us like a freight tram. Mahr lights a cigarette and lets the small
yellow-orange flame of the ignited match slowly bum. "This is how
the Americans treat my country." Seeing this and hearing his tales.
it's difficult not to see Mahr as the live tree he's just described being
burned in the thick, dead forest of conflict. After three weeks. I'm
already mentally drained. However, I get to leave. Despite Mahr's
wish to live in exile, away from the country he loves so deeply, he has
no choice. He will stay and continue his work amidst the destruction.
dreaming of a better day somewhere else, it
HilMliltiillliM*
Pie Any Means Necessary:
The Biotic Baking Brigade Cookbook
edited by Agent Apple
1 902593-88 X | $12.00 TP 1 128 pp
A must read for anyone with a taste for
creative political dissent, a thirst lor
humor, or a grumbling stomach.
"The BBB is a network ol political
pranksters who literally practice m-your-
lace politics. They target greedheads. hit
ting them in teh smacker. . . with pies!
But it is worthy work.'
- Jim Hightower. journalist
Beat the Heat: how to Handle
Encounters with Law Enforcement
Katya Komisaruk
1 902593-55-3 | $14.00 TP |W0pp
There is no better guide to knowing your
nghts and exercising them.
'This book will help keep more ol our
brothers and sisters in the community,
instead ol sitting in cages watching the
prison industry's profits grow. Read it.
use it. stay free.'
- lack de la Rocha. musician and activist
At War with Asia
Noam Chomsky
1902593-89-8 [ $18.95 TP | aoopp
In 1970, Chomsky urged Amencans to
avoid the dangers of a war with Asia.
Drawing on his visit to Vietnam and exten
sive reading, he discusses the historical.
political, and economic reasons behind
our involvement in an Asian land war.
A crucial book for anyone seeking to
understand US foreign policy then and
now
0**
Q O
HRMtiWILlil' l
o •
Animal Ingredient A to Z,
3rd Edition
E.G. Smith Collective
1902593790 \ $9.95 TP \ 99k
The definitive resource to food mgredi
ents, with more than 2.000 listings as
well as supplementary chapters on vegan
nutrition, books, clothing, beer and wine.
With this new and updated edition in
hand, you'll be a canng and confident
consumer. 'An indispensable resource.'
- Carol J Adams, actrvist and author
mm
ORG
SI DISTRIBUTION
■ • . >
9 2
alliedmediaconference
m
* 7 ■ '
200M
ifyoubelievecommunitiesshouldcontroltheirmedia...
ifyoubelieveeveryoneshouldhavethetoolstocreateanddistributetheir
own books, movies, music, newspapers, and more...
ifyoubelievecommunicationisahumanright...
youshouldbeatthealliedme
Every year in June, hundreds of the most passionate people from the world of independent
media converge on Bowling Green, Ohio, for the Allied Media Conference. The AMC focuses
on sharing skills, building alternatives to corporate media, and using media for positive
social change.
In addition to hands-on, OIY workshops, the conference includes film screenings, artist
presentations, and a large exhibition hall to share our work. There will be caucuses for
microcinemas, community newspapers, and Indymedia. plus a series of workshops for
educators on using independent media in the classroom. Set in a small, midwest town,
it's also a space to strengthen our community and enjoy each other's company.
For more information or to register, visit www.alliedmediaprojects.org
ATTENTION TEACHERS: Be sure to come Friday for the Symposium on Media Literacy in
Education: one day of presentations and workshops geared toward helping you teach your
students to become critical readers of mass media.
The Allied Media Conference and the Symposium on Media Literacy in Education are
presented by Allied Media Projects, the American Culture Studies program, and the Division
of Teaching and Learning at Bowling Green State University.
CM
CO
family, leisure, and sanity are traded for the memory of an 8-hour day
Kari Lydersen Jim West
Dennis Hopkins, a 34-year-old father of three in Chicago, works 70
hours a week as a cook and home care attendant. He gets up at 4:30
a.m. to be at work cooking for the Board of Education by 6 a.m.
At 2:30 p.m. he heads off to work six more hours taking care of a
homebound patient.
"I don't think anyone can make a living off working 40 hours
a week anymore," he said. "Maybe 10 or 20 years ago, but not now.
Unless you become an electrical engineer or a doctor, but even doctors
are usually working 60 hours a week and they're so stressed out they
die even earlier than everyone else!"
For decades, the 40-hour workweek has not been a reality for
many people across the income scale. Low-income people regularly
put in more than 40 hours, often doing as much overtime as possible
at hourly jobs to augment low wages, or even working a total of 60 or
70 hours a week at several jobs.
Noe, a Mexican immigrant living in Omaha, Neb., has regularly
worked up to 17 hours a day at two jobs (though he is currently only
working one job for 45 hours a week). In the past he worked at a
lumber processing company from about 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Afterward he
cleaned offices from 5 p.m. to 1 :30 a.m.
Noe, who didn't want his last name used, said, "I only slept three
or four hours a night for three years. I was very tired, physically and
mentally."
Higher-income professionals like doctors, lawyers, and engi-
neers are also expected to work more than 40 hours a week for their
salaries. Many jobs, ranging from nursing to assembly-line factory
work, require mandatory overtime, meaning the worker can be fired
for refusing to work 50- or 60-hour weeks.
So how could it possibly get worse? If the Bush administration
has its way, not only will people be working more than 40 hours a
week, but many won't get paid for this extra work. Changes in the way
the Department of Labor implements the Fair Labor Standards Act
and legislation gutting overtime pay protections are currently on the
table. The changes in the FLSA are expected to take effect in March.
(A I press time, this decision is yet to be known — Ed.) The legislation
has so far not passed Congress. Essentially, these measures are a huge
gift to industry since forcing people to work more hours for the same
amount of pay equates to pay cuts and employer profits.
The Rise and Fall of the 40-Hour Workweek
When President Franklin Roosevelt instituted the 40-hour workweek,
he based it on the premise that people shouldn't be worked to the bone,
but that they should have time for their families and leisure. Passed in
1938, the FLSA, which also banned child labor and set the minimum
wage at 25 cents a week, set the maximum work week at 44 hours
and mandated that if workers toiled more than 40 hours a week, they
would be paid double for those hours.
At the time labor abuses were rampant. The Labor Department's
Children's Bureau found that out of a cross section of 449 children,
nearly a fourth were working 60 hours or more per week at median
wages of slightly over $4 a week. In the South, it was normal for
women to work 10-hour days in canneries for $4.50 a week.
The FLSA and labor activism of the era led to some improvements
in worker safety and health, including the reduction of hours worked.
The idea behind overtime pay was that this would prevent employers
from demanding extensive overtime of their employees, and, when
they did, the employees would be rewarded for their sacrifices.
Peter Rachleff. labor historian, explained that the FLSA was not
created so workers could earn more money. "It was to force employers
to hire more workers and create more jobs," he said.
Over the course of the century, however, the trend of working
more, both for low-income people just trying to scrape by and upper-
income people trying to keep up in the rat race, has accelerated. The
Economic Policy Institute says that, on average, middle-income couples
with kids have added an average of 20 weeks of work over the last 30
years. Americans work an average of nine weeks a year more than Euro-
peans, and the average work year grew by 184 hours during the 1990s,
according to Kevin Phillips, author of Wealth and Democracy.
"In the 1970s and '80s the Japanese were known as the world's
workaholics," Rachleff said. "But Americans have far surpassed the
Japanese without much recognition. You sec many repercussions
— the growth of fast food, the growth of childcare. By the time every-
thing is added and subtracted, we're no farther ahead because of the
cost of maintaining this lifestyle."
The Push to Gut Overtime Pay
The Department of Labor's proposed changes will mean millions of
workers who were previously paid by the hour and eligible for over-
time pay will be reclassified as "managers" or other high level posi-
tions exempt from overtime pay — with no pay increase to go along
with their new title.
The changes were proposed in March 2003 as a "notice of rule-
making." The DOL said it was reviewing "outdated" standards at the
behest of industry groups. The changes did not have to pass through
Congress.
Under the rule changes, a worker making $10 an hour in charge
of the poultry department at a supermarket who gets "promoted" to
manager can be required to work 50 hours or more a week with no
overtime pay.
Under the changes, a similar modification is likely to happen to
nurses, technicians, engineers, or others who are judged to be "profes-
sionals" because of higher education or specialized training will not be
eligible for overtime pay. This will have a particular effect on veterans
who received medical, technical, or other training in the military.
continued next page
CO
CO
Nicholas Clark, general counsel for the United Food and Com-
mercial Workers union, said. "Someone who received some medical
training in the nulitan, would be considered the same as a doctor as far
as not getting overtime."
The changes will also allow an employer to pay for overtime in
future time off (comp lime) instead of cash. The employer can gener-
ally determine w hen the worker gets this comp time, enabling them to
award it at a slow business lime w hen the worker isn't needed anyway.
The comp time could even be given up to a year after the overtime
worked, essentially delaying any kind of pay for overtime and causing
the worker to lose this benefit if the company goes out of business.
The comp time pro\ isions also mean employers will require other
workers to pick up the slack for a worker who is taking comp time.
(lark noted that the comp for overtime bills essentially amount
to a no-interest loan for employers, since the employer is able to hold
oil on paying workers at all for up to a year, giving them prolonged
access to the funds they should have paid out. If they borrowed the
same amount from a bank, they would be charged an interest rate.
"Taking away overtime pay is just a way to help employers,"
Laura Kai, spokesperson for the Chicago branch of the community
organization ACORN, said. "For masses of people it's really going to
cause a problem. A lot of workers really rely on overtime pay to make
ends meet."
Currently about 71 million U.S. workers are eligible for over-
time. The administration says 3.3 million workers will be affected by
the changes, but experts say that at least 8 million workers will be
affected.
" I he administration's numbers are just wrong," Clark said.
The changes will also affect high-wage earners, since they man-
date that people earning over S65,000 a year are not eligible for over-
time.
And there are absolutely no restrictions on the total number of
hours someone can work.
"The only restriction is how many hours you can take before you
quit," Clark said. "You're off the clock and you work whatever thej
tell you to."
Clark said if the changes go through, litigation will probably
ensue.
"They're arguing that they're just interpreting the FLSA differ-
ently, so it didn't have to go through Congress.'' he said. "We're argu-
ing that they're actually changing it."
Meanwhile proposed House and Senate legislation, the Family
Time and Workplace Flexibility Act in the Senate and the Family Time
flexibility Act in the House, could also gut overtime pay for workers
by institutionalizing the comp time provisions. Congress has yet to
take action on the bills; it is expected that if a Democrat is elected in
November they won't see the light of day.
"There was such an uproar about them that the) haven't moved."'
Kai said.
With the same kind of doublespeak that characterized the Clear
Skies. No Child Left Behind, and Healths Forests initiatives, the
administration tried to sell the bills as measures to give people more
time off with their families when, in reality, they mean people will be
earning less money to support their families.
Clearlv. the Bush administration's attacks on overtime pav and
the already-bedraggled concept of the 40-hour week are just one more
way of advancing the trend in which corporate employers are able to
treat people as dispensable tools for their own profit, w ithout respect
for the way more work and less pay will affect people's families,
health, and mental well-being. "fr
REVIEW WAR OF INDEPENDENTS
Books Lie
Hall of Fame of Fire
(plus singles and b-sides).
Level Plane Records
www.level-plane.com
I've got a pre-requisite for
music to be featured on my
day-to-day soundtrack at the
Clamor HQ. I work long hours (often by myself), so
whatever I'm listening to has to be able to move my
ass and encourage singing along at the top of my lungs.
Unfortunately for hardcore and a lot of newer punk, this
leaves me mostly listening to hip hop and guilty pop
pleasures Rarely does a hardcore CD come across my
desk that moves me to either disgust or enthusiasm - I
consider that an indictment for those of you who might
take such a statement personally. Books Lie are the rare
exception They combine raw energy, humor, and an
incisive, politically charged tongue to create something
that is intellectually stimulating and butt-shakingly
dance-able. Every time I put the CD on, I'm immediately
transported to a tiny damp room where a hundred kids
hop in unison to the anthems cranked out by the Books
Lie contingent with fists in the air This is beauty.
■Jason Kucsma
Chromelodeon
in the year 20XX
www chromelodeon com
The wack-ass cover art for
this CD doesn't betray the
genius of Chromelodeon's
debut CD (unclear is this
the debut?) I almost passed
it off as a half-assed attempt to endear the CD to the hip
hop and graf culture with its cartoonish caricature raising
his fist in the air over a pile of industrial rubbish. Truth
is, this is pure gold. Chromelodeon is an instrumental
powerhouse (with some minimal vocals) that creates
epic tracks out from rock and new wave roots - creating
something that sounds like Godspeed You! Black
mperor facing Mr. Bungle in a Nintendo Gameboy
songwriting competition. This is truly an example of a
book that should not be judge by its cover. I consider
myself schooled.
-Jason Kucsma
Shuttlecock
Machine-Extended
Iron Compass Records, 2002
www.ironcompassrecords.com
Shuttlecock has been around
for about five years, rising out
of the ashes of Omaha. They
play quirky, art-damaged
post-punk that you could call prog-rock or math rock,
if that makes you happy. The songs are based around
staccato riffs, with plenty of tempo changes and quiet
parts, and the odd electronic effect. The vocals are a bit
geeky, but geeky-menacing like Devo was. and the lyncs
are cryptic and sparse The quieter songs reminded me
of fIREHOSE. but maybe that's just because both bands
iave amazing drummers and vocalists with Midwest
wangs. The band is capable of genuine beauty, but the
overall effect of Machine-Extended is a feeling of unease
and anxiety due partially to the edgy riffs that will never
allow you to fall into a groove, and partially due to the
yrics, which make references to memory, technology,
nathematics, and the concept of time Shuttlecock are
ntellectual without being pretentious, and listening to
this record gave me the same feeling of satisfaction as
looking at an abstract painting; it seemed to say a lot
without saying anything directly, and I knew that I liked
it even if I didn't totally understand it. Shuttlecock make
guitar-driven music sound relevant and contemporary,
which is no small feat in this day and age.
-Patrick Taylor
The Opus
Breathing Lessons
Mush Records. 2004
www.dirtyloop.com
Mr Echoes and The Isi
of Weight make up The fe
Opus- an impressive duo, no
doubt This is instrumental
hip-hop at its best. As usual for most hip-hoppers, vocal
samples are thrown down here and there and from time
to time. The duo's programming skills are quite unique,
better than anyone in the mainstream currently. This is
true underground hip-hop, without the vocals, although
Lord 360 appeared on vocals bnefly on one of the
tracks His rhymes are very poetic and dark The music
is often dnvmg. almost drum n' bass-like but without
much speed This is more mid-paced hip-hop music
The duo has worked with many notable artists in the
electronic scene including Meat Beat Manifesto This
duo is capable of doing any styles of electronic music
because they are that good as producers With proper
management, The Opus could go as far as becoming the
next Neptunes duo, or maybe even bigger and better
- Adhab Al-Farhan
Wanna wnte reviews for Clamor 1 ' Visit us online at:
www clamormagazine org/freestulf html'
North America
While the average workweek in the United States
hovers around a 40-hour mark, proposed changes to
overtime rules may strike a blow for millions of
workers' right to fair compensation (see related article).
People often think of sweatshops as only being in
Third World countries, but there are countless undocu-
mented workers laboring long hours in sweatshops in
the United States. In Los Angeles, there are 4,500
sweatshops; in New York City, there are 3,500.
Ontario's government recently announced plans to roll
back the 60-hour maximum workweek to the previous
48. Critics of the 60-hour limit say workers may feel
their job security threatened if they refuse to work
extra hours.
Western Europe
The European Union's Working Time Directive mandates a 48-hour workweek. Recently, Britain has
called for an opt-out, arguing that people should be able to work more if they wish. Britons work the
longest hours in Westerm Europe: 43.6 hours on average, compared to 38.4 in Belgium, the country
with the lowest average. The government in France has plans to dismantle their 35-hour week, which
has been blamed for France's economic problems. Belgium, France, Ireland, and Portugal have all seen
decreases in hours in recent years.
In ( iermany, the maximum workweek is 48 hours and 17% of the country's production comes from
illegal immigrants, many of them from Turkey, which has huge unemployment — one figure says only
46% of working age in Turkey have jobs.
Sweden has often been held up as a model for labor. Workers average 35.8 hours a week, and most
belong to unions. There is only 4% unemployment.
Middle East
Middle Eastern countries often require workers put in long hours.
In Kuwait, the workweek is 48 hours, but domestic servants — usually
foreign workers excluded from labor laws — work more.
In Jordan in the past few years American companies have set up a
remarkable number of sweatshops in "Qualified Industrial Zones,"
employing over 40,000 workers in substandard conditions. The QIZ's
are a result of the 1994 peace agreement with Israel, allowing for
duty-free trade with the United States. Workers in these zones are
often on the job 65 hours a week, making items for J.C. Penney,
Wal-Mart, Target, and others.
Eastern Europe
In most countries, men are more likely to work long
hours than women. Central and Eastern European
countries, however, have the highest proportion of
both men and women working excessively long hours,
according to the International labour Organization.
More than 75% of both sexes work 40 hours a week
or more. In Russia, although the official workweek
is 40 hours, it is rarely enforced. Many work 10- or
12-hour days — and have been known to be paid in
vodka at the height of the wage crisis in the late '90s.
Central/South America
Central and South America are rife with
American corporate sweatshops. One report
from a Guatemalan factory included workers
being forced to work until 4 a.m. only to
report back four hours later. In Honduras,
Gap factory workers were reportedly forced
to work overtime — and to take pregnancy
tests and meet extremely high production goals
for $4 a day. As these companies realize they
can get cheaper labor in Asia, however, many
are starting to relocate to the other side of
the globe.
Africa
It is difficult to measure Africa's workweek
because so much labor is agricultural. In South
Africa, for example, the workweek is 45 hours,
though most farmers live in poverty working
12-hour days with no overtime pay.
In Zimbabwe, the maximum legal workweek is
54 hours, with one day off required. Zimbabwe
has many unregulated workers from Malawi and
Mozambique who are often subject to abusive
working conditions. Recently, the Transport and
General Workers Union in Zimbabwe called for a
reduction of working hours for bus and truck
drivers to reduce accidents. Most drivers, according
to the union, were working 48 hours a week, and
drivers were falling asleep at the wheel.
Over one million children work in Egypt, often
making hand-made knotted rugs for tourists and in
textile factories. Many work 10-hour days; 73%
of the children in textile factories work 12-hour days.
Asia
Asian workers, according to the International
Labour Organization, log the most hours across
the globe, the top six being Thailand, Malaysia,
Hong Kong (China), Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and
South Korea. In India, the legal workweek is
48 hours, but these rules are regularly not enforced,
especially in the garment industry. Sweatshops are
also a huge problem in China — producing for
businesses like Nike, Disney, and especially Wal-Mart.
Eighty percent of Wal-Mart's suppliers are in China.
This sweatshop economy is prevalent all over Asia.
Just last year, the Phillipines passed a law that
children under 15 could not work more than 20
hours a week.
In Japan, workers take on average only 8 days of
leave a year. Not shockingly, 10,000 Japanese a year
die of karoshi — the Japanese word for "death by
overwork. "
/
Australia
Although Australia pioneered the 40-hour workweek
in the late 1880s, it is no longer such a worker's
paradise. Only 2 in 5 actually work that today,
with 1 in 5 working more than 50 hours a week. In
1999, a study by the Australian Council of Trade
Unions found that 1 in 4 workers took time off
because of stress, making it the most common
job-related illness.
^Wkere i
e world is the 40-hourwe/ek,
Compiled by Madeleine Baran and Amanda Luker
•/// infonitation is from daily newspaper sources unless othencise cited.
-erf/
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Workln' for
At the Robert Scott Correctional Facility in Plymouth. Mich..
Kebby Warner waited almost five years for a job. During
that time, her request for parole was turned down twice. The
reason? She didn't have a job.
Although there are 96 women on her unit, there are onl)
15 jobs available. Once an inmate is placed on a job. she must
work at least 90 days. If she is fired or quits before then, she is
forced to stay in her cell for 30 days and risks being ticketed for
"Disobeying a Direct Order" or being "( Hit of Place."" The hourly
pay scale on her unit ranges from ""4c to S2.08. Those who work
in food service cam even less: 17.5c to 32 5c an hour. Despite
the lack of jobs and poor working conditions, the parole board
holds unemployment against applicants.
While the prison-industrial complex has attracted much
criticism and protest in recent years, the lack of jobs and poor
working conditions of women prisoners ha\ e > el to gamer much
attention. Almost 100.000 women are now incarcerated in the
United States, representing about ~ percent of all inmates — a
42 percent increase since 1995.
However, female prisoners are speaking out. arguing that
gender-based economic inequality docs not stop at the prison
gate. Indeed, incarcerated women have significantly less access
to jobs than male prisoners When the) arc able to find work, it is
often undesirable. They are often paid less, and not given neces-
sary training. Their male counterparts have access to better jobs
and better wages.
At the Women's Correctional Center in Salem. Ore., inmate
Barrilee Bannister said. "Most jobs are not available to women
prisoners." Main women there said that if they work, the) are
given jobs considered "feminine. " such as cooking, cleaning,
clerking, or teaching.
Until 1996. the Oregon prison offered its inmates the op-
portunity to work in its corporate division. Inmates answered
phone calls from people on the outside requesting business
information. However, in 1996. the division was transferred to
one of the male prisons. Iea\ mg women inmates with prison jobs
that paid anywhere from ss to "ss4 a month.
Oregon's male prisoners also do the same t>pes of work
but. for the most part, men's prisons have more job choice The
si. nc's Measure Seventeen mandates that all prisoners work; but
male inmates have access to jobs which provide them with skills
such as small engine repair, cabinetry, welding, furniture mak-
ing, plumbing, and computer programming. The) also have the
opportunit) to work for the clothing manufacturer Prison Blues,
which, after deducting incarceration costs, victim restitution.
famil) support, and taxes, pays about $1.30 an hour Women
prisoners have been excluded from this opportunity.
rwelve hundred miles away, at the women's section of the
( olorado Women's Correctional facility in Canon City, Colo..
inm. lies fare little better. \ll prisoners are required to cither work
01 attend school I nt i 1 I cbruar\ 2002, the dail) pa> rales ranged
from o ; c to $2 53 for jobs such as kitchen, laundry, housekeep-
ing, maintenance, library, secretary, and dl I) teacher Inmate
Dawn \mos earned 63f for each of the four days she worked
scrubbing and buffing the floors ["he prison lowered wages
furthei m March 2002.
the Man
word Victoria Law
illustration Amy DeVoogd
The prices in Canon City's canteen do not reflect the women's income
and purchasing power. One generic Tylenol costs 400; a box of tampons cost
$3.60; the cheapest soap available is the equivalent of a day's earnings — 63c.
There are no free items.
Women at Canon City have virtually no job mobility. "If you want to
leave a job for another one. it doesn't mean you can. It all depends on if your
boss wants to let you go or not," Amos said. Thus, efficiency on one job can
work against the ability to transfer to another.
In some prisons, work environments resemble sweatshops. At the
Dwight Correctional Center in Dwight, Illin., the prison pays female seam-
stresses by the piece. According to "Elsie," an inmate there who wishes to
remain anonymous, "Women rushing to make the cut-off day have injured
themselves on sewing machines — sewing their fingers." The average
monthly pay is $15 to $20 for 40 hours of work.
In some prisons, there is even more risk of injury. At the Central Cali-
fornia Women's Facility in Chowchilla, Yolanda, an inmate who had grown
up in Los Angeles, was assigned to work on the prison's farm. Despite the
fact that she had never been on a farm, she received no training for her job.
Shortly after she began, her head was run over by a tractor by another inmate,
who had also never received training. Although she survived, both women
were disciplined.
In addition to the low pay and hazardous working conditions, female fa-
cilities seldom offer coveted jobs working for large corporations. (Although
prison activists often complain about corporations' use of prison labor, these
jobs tend to pay more than internal prison work.) The Central California
Women's Facility is one of the few exceptions. Inmates there have the op-
portunity to work assembly-line jobs putting together equipment for Joint
Venture Electronics, an electronics manufacturer. After standard deductions
for taxes, room and board, victim restitution, savings for release, and family
support, these women earn about $ 1 . 1 5 to $2.30 an hour. Compared to a daily
630, this paycheck is considered high.
The lack of jobs has been used to keep women inmates from complain-
ing about prison conditions. Shortly after filing a grievance against a male
officer, Warner, the Michigan inmate, was assaulted by a co-worker at her
job in the library. Although Warner was the victim of the assault, she was
terminated from her position "for the safety and security of the institution."
Similarly, Bannister, the Oregon inmate, said prison officials fired her from
her position as visiting room photographer in 2002 after she reported a male
officer's sexual harassment
However, women prisoners have been fighting back in ways large and
small. One anonymous inmate in Texas, a state which requires all inmates
to work without pay, refused her assignment. "1 refuse to work," she said. "I
have sat down and quit doing prison altogether." Oregon inmate Laura Maca
not only quit her job as visiting room photographer, but also wrote an expose
about a controversial prison policy.
Despite these protests, the "industry" in women's prisons has garnered
little or no attention, let alone outcry, from outside groups and organizations
Those doing research and work around prison issues and labor issues need
to examine the ways in which their neglect and dismissal of labor conditions
within women's facilities adds to the silencing and invisibility of women
prisoners and their issues. ■&
Further Reading:
Juanila Diaz-Cotto Gender, Ethnicity, and the State Latina and Latino Prison Politics, SUNY Press. 1996.
Karlcne Faith Unruly Women: The Politics "l ( onfmement and Resistance Press Gang. 1993.
Nancy Kurshan Women and Imprisonment m the U.S History and ( urrent Rea/m
hup prisonactivist.oi men-and-imprisonment.html
Red, White, and Wal-Mart Blue
Interstate 540 could be called the highway that Sam
Walton built. Follow 1-540 through the Ozark hill-country
of northwest Arkansas towards Bentonville, Ark., and
you will find the converted warehouse that is Wal-
Mart's corporate headquarters. Paved in the early '90s,
1-540 allowed Wal-Mart trucks to get goods in and out
of warehouses in the Ozarks faster than ever before. The
hills along northern 1-540 are now being leveled in favor
of mini-malls, subdivisions, and high-rise hotels. Some
locals have gone so far as to speculate that Bentonville
and its surrounding cities on the 1-540 corridor are a
blueprint for the Wal-Martization of the world.
Every June, thousands of Wal-Mart shareholders
gather half an hour from Bentonville at the Bud Walton
Arena in Fayetteville, Ark., to celebrate the ascension of
Wal-Mart as the largest company ever. Sam Walton used
to love his shareholders' conventions, and they have kept
growing even after his death. The convention is basically
a huge pep rally supporting union busting, urban sprawl,
and the cheap sweatshop-made goods that have made
Wal-Mart the undisputed champion of retailing.
Each convention has its own theme; last year's
theme was "It's My Wal-Mart." There is singing, some
jerky dancing, and even a band that kicks off the whole
weekend. Yes, folks, Guido and the Wal-Mart band rock
the shareholders' convention at 6:45 a.m. with hits like
"Wal-Mart Pride," "Mr. Sam," and the inevitable title
track of their debut album, "It's My Wal-Mart." Quoted
in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Guido said, "I write
about swimming upstream, going the distance, pride, what
their goals are. It's all red, white, and Wal-Mart blue."
Unions, environmentalists, sprawl campaigners,
anarchists, peace activists, and human rights activists
will be converging in Fayetteville this summer to form a
counter presence to Wal-Mart's shareholder convention.
There will be free housing, food, workshops, strategy
sessions, networking, non-violent actions, and a whole
lot of partying as we celebrate the largest movement
Arkansas has ever seen.
o
E-mail againxtthenaKa go/airrrade. net 3
o
or visit H mi againstthewal.org for more information and to "2
download materials to help you organize your community to ^,
make that trip in June =>
Joe Diffie
Jerry Business
GO
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Welcome to the Military!
May I Take Your Order?
Sa> the word "military" and most leftists recoil with horror. But for many
of the 1.5 million enlisted men and women, the U.S. Armed Forces isn't
a political statement; it's a job. If you believe the "Be All You Can Be"
hype, joining the military is a great way to escape inner-city violence,
rural boredom, and low-paying employment at a fast food restaurant.
But is the military really a better job than. say. Taco Bell.' Read below
to find out!
• If the Taco Bell manager wants you to stay late on a Friday and you
refuse, you could be denied a raise or fired. In the military, officials can
issue a "Stop-Loss order" to extend your deployment indefinitely. Even if
you signed up for three years of active duty, you could find yourself do-
ing four. fi\ e, or e\ en six years — just ask the 7,000 troops in the Middle
East w ho ha\ e been sen ing extra time since January.
• At your job at Taco Bell, if you refuse to clean the deep fryer, you could
he "written up" or fired. In the military, if you refuse a direct order in the
middle of combat, you could be shot by your commanding officer.
• If you decide you're sick of smelling like tacos and want to quit your
job, you just need to tell your boss. You could give two weeks notice
— or you could just walk out in the middle of making nachos and never
look back. If you quit your job as a soldier before your official last day,
you could be court-martialed and thrown in prison.
• I nlcss you happen to serve a soft-shell taco to a violent, hard-shcll-taeo-
\o\ ing serial killer, chances arc you will not be murdered at your job. But
1 1 you're in the military, those chances increase dramatically. At press time,
548 soldiers had been killed in the Iraq War and 3,039 have been injured.
And if you're a minority, your odds are even worse. In the first Gulf War,
over 50 percent of the front-line troops were people of color.
• II you work at Taco Bell full-time for a year, earning $7 an hour and
taking two weeks vacation, you'll earn $14,000 — slightly more than the
average army recruit, who will earn SI 3,460 plus housing. Also, once a
soldier retires from the military, he or she will earn, on average, about
$l,7()(i less per year than non-veterans,
• Unlike taco Bell, the Armed forces oilers money lor college; but if you
read the fine print, it's a complicated story. To qualifv for the lull Mont-
gomerv G.I. Bill, you need to serve lour years in active duty and four in
the reserves. You have to gel an honorable discharge. You also need to
pay $100 a month for the first year $1 ,200 total — just to have the op-
tion to get the funding once you leave the military, lo get money from the
Arm) \avv ( ollege I und, you need to be a high school graduate, score
m the top 50 percent on a standardized test, and take a less-than-desirable
job, Iwo-thirds ot recruits never get anv college funding. Most who do
qualif) go to rwo-yeai communit) schools. Assuming that a two-year
school COStS $4,000 each year, the total payment from the military, minus
I lie SI .2(10 you ahead) put in, would be $6,800. If you stretched that over
the loin years ol lull-time soldiering, that's a louS) 850 more each hour
loi a job thai could send von to Iraq indefinitely, earning almost mini-
mum wage, while dodging suicide bombers and stra) bullets Anyone
need a [aco Bell application?
Information based on interviews conducted by Madeleine Baran with
Douglas Smith, military spokesperson based in Fort Knox, K). and Kevin
Ramirez, tin- < oordinator <>l Military Out <>i (hu Si hoots
A few months ago, my roommate's union went
mi strike. She started pacing the apartment and
devouring several books a dav to take her mind
off not knowing when she'd go back to work. AFS( All
Local 3800 clerical workers walked out over health
insurance, among other things one o\ seven labor
unions to strike last year demanding better health care
in the Twin Cities.
this trend locally reflects a growing nationwide
discontent with an inadequate, even catastrophic, health
care system. However, in Ithaca. NY, a group of citizens
have decided to fight the battle for affordable health care
in do-it-yourself fashion, fhev created their own: the
Ithaca Health fund Health care advocates in the fwm
Cities and elsewhere are taking notice.
For many, health insurance, no matter how inade-
quate, is a luxurx the) can't afford According to the (en-
ters lor Disease ( ontrol and National (enter for Health
Statistics, an estimated 14.8 percent of all Americans had
no health insurance coverage in 2003 fhat translates to
42.3 million Americans with no health insurance
I hose who need health care the most are those
least able to access it When I lost nn graduate health
insurance. I decided to continue it through the COBRA
program, which allows me to pax out ol pocket foi a
vcai and a hall Mv monthlv health care bill is higher
than mv food bill \ccouling to the \merican Medi-
cal Association's 2003 Health Care Financial [rends
[U\
n
u
Susan Leem
Chris
Report, the percent growth of premiums from
1998 to 2002 was four times greater than that
of consumer prices (43.4 percent versus 10.4
percent).
As the national health care system has
shut more and more people out, the uninsured
have been forced to seek alternative solutions.
In February of 1997, Paul Glover founded a
member-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit health financ-
ing system, an "assurance rather than insur-
ance" program called the Ithaca Health Fund.
IHF has over 600 members in 22 states, over
$296,000 of available funds, and only pays
one employee, Paul Glover. After working
years for free, Paul now accepts S8.50 an hour
for about 1 hours of work a week, and has
refused raises.
"The idea behind the fund is that the
wealthier and stronger help the less strong and
less wealthy," Glover said. "A society means
that people help each other; a dogfight means
they exploit each other. It is anti-social, inhu-
man, and anti-American to make a profit from
misery."
The ages of the members range from two
to 87. Over a dozen Ithaca businesses use IHF
to insure their workers, senior citizens supple-
ment their Medicare with it, and students
The Ithaca Health Fund's Model for Change
rely on it while in school. The cost is $100 a
year for adults regardless of age, gender, or
pre-existing conditions, and hasn't changed
since it started. For those who have difficult)
affording that, the IHF established a grant to
give 20 memberships away per year. Ithaca's
community social service agencies determine
who gets them.
"Our long range plan," Glover said, "is to
create our own clinic for medical and dental
care [and] holistic care so that we're not just
making larger payments into the profit system
or more categories of care, but controlling the
cost and the quality within the highest stan-
dards of humanity"
The IHF makes payments to any pro-
vider anywhere in the world and requires no
deductible, but the type of coverage is limited
to emergency-based care with the highest
payment being $2,500 (for broken bones).
The elected board members decide which
procedures are eligible for coverage. The
only elective surgery covered is vasectomy,
a controversial vote among members that
eventually won out in the name of population
control.
IHF board member and Family Nurse
Practitioner Elizabeth Salon acknowledges
that the fund is not yet able to address major
illness or end of life care. "IHF is not a Blue
Cross," Salon said, "but it works at a basic
level. Until we have universal health care, it's
a great deal."
There are two different beliefs at the core
of the health reform debate. At one end of the
spectrum is market-based health care where
the commodity of care is distributed according
to one's ability to buy it. At the other extreme,
health care is considered a social service dis-
tributed according to need. Single-payer health
care is based on this principle. One way to
think of it is as Medicare for all, and countries
like Canada, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark
practice it.
Despite maintaining poor availability and
distribution of health care, the United States
still spends more than any other country on
health care. According to the Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development, the
United States spent approximately 13.9 per-
cent of its Gross Domestic Product in 2001;
that's 47 percent more per person than the
second-ranked country, Switzerland.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statis-
tics, experts project that health spending will
account for 18.4 percent of the GDP by 2013,
and if personal consumption rates continue,
more than one in every four of those dollars
will be spent on health care.
So far, the IHF has paid $38,479.50 in
grants to members. The fund's website lists
their payments and their denials with the date,
dollar amount, claim number, and type of
service. They also accept Ithaca Hours (an al-
ternative "local dollar" system also founded by
Paul Glover) for partial payment of the fund.
The IHF also extends provider discounts for
local — especially alternative — health practi-
tioners and their services, such as acupressure.
Reiki, or midwifery.
IHF is not a legally recognized health
system, but has been held up as a model for
something better. The Center for Prosperity, a
Twin Cities non-profit consulting service/think
tank for democratic economies, is recruiting
members for IHF in an effort to build its own
fund. "This project is good in itself and is a
tangible real life example of something beyond
the individual versus bureaucracies paradigm,"
Program Coordinator Erik Esse said. "We're
going to show here that we can do this."
As a conscientious objector during the
Vietnam War, Glover has always known
there was more than one way to fight a
good fight. "We agree that the poor should
be marching on Washington, demanding
righteously that American health [insurance]
heal rather than kill," he said, "but we regard
this as another way to organize health con-
sumers to raise that demand." "fr
More information is available tit
Ithaca Health Fund
Box 362 Ithaca, NY 14851. (607) 387-8344
www.ithacahealth.org
Center for Prosperity: www.prosperitycenter.org
CO
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-= Jessica Hoffman
9
I've got an appetite for Jane Fon-
da movies, 1969-1980.
It's been oft reported that, during those
sears, Fonda herself had an appetite limited to
yogurt, cigarettes, and diet pills. Nothing uncom-
mon about that for a mm le star on the losing side
of a rigid gender s\ stein in which standardized
Body Beauty is one of the firmest pillars. There's
also her much-discussed radical leftist activism
during those years. But talk about movie stars'
'real'' lives abounds, and while 1 think the re-
alities of life as a movie star provide significant
fodder lor cultural analysis, I also think it's
worthwhile, sometimes, to locus on the work
itself, on the creature on the screen, doing its
job of performance, embodiment, being a movie
si. 11 So. those COntextualizing notes aside, can 1
lei Ms. I onda's repeated!) run-through-the-mud
persona] lite dry o\'\ a few minutes and talk a bit
about her work ' Because it's brilliant
No matter the role self-aware stalked
prostitute. Depression-era desperate, lone
rancher, tough and talented pla>w right,
foreign correspondent, military -wife-turned-
military-system-critic (read, also: '70s liber-
ated woman) Jane Fonda is solid She
grabs focus not mctcK or primarily with her
beauty, but with her strength She's the big-
gest force in the scene. e\er> time \\ hate\er
romantic or career or emotional strife her
character is dealing with, she doesn't resort
to physicall) expressing it with the fragile
kind of distress typical of big-screen femmes.
When she sinks. utterly drained, onto a cot
several days into the '30s dance marathon o\'
They Shoot Horses, Doni They ' it's not a del-
icate, breakable body that's sinking there. It's
a bod] that's strong bj necessity; it's a mo-
ment that shows not weakness but strength.
pushed to its absolute limits In Tout va bien,
when she argues with her husband (referred
to throughout the film as "the reporter's hus-
band" opposite unmodified, possessive-free
references to her character, "the reporter"),
she faces him head on. from the middle of the
couch, body open.
The '70s were a magical period in U.S.
cinema. It was a decade full of smart, often
political socially aware movies. Big stu-
dios no longer dominated film production,
which meant production was increasingly
in the hands of producers and independent
studios (distribution was, and is. another
story). Sixties counter-culture, both artistic
and political, informed a new generation
of young filmmakers. It was the decade of
— the standard cinema histories tell us — the
rise of Scorsese (Mean Streets in '73 and Taxi
Driver in '76), Francis Ford Coppola (The
Godfather. '12), Robert Altman (he released
14 movies between '69 and '79, among them
M*A*S*Il. McCabed Ws. Wler, Nashville,
and Three Women). John Cassavetes, and Hal
Ashby.
What most of the last-Golden-Age-of-
Hollywood histories manage not to men-
tion is that, smack in between his stories of
small-time hoods and a mohawked sociopath,
Scorsese directed Alice Doesn't Live Here
Anymore, in which an unexpectedly widow ed
housewife and mother (Ellen Burstyn) finds
herself suddenly unanchored. with no money
and no experience in shaping a life of her
own. She hits the road with her son to find
her way through life after housewife-hood,
life as a working single mom in full charge.
Five years later, another on-screen working
mom appeared, this one staving up late to
read Dylan Thomas and standing on tables
by day, shouting demands to unionize the
small-town textile factory where she worked
( Vorma Rae).
The preface to editor Charles Harpole's
600-page History of the American Cinema,
Volume 9. which covers the period from 1970
to 1979, makes deliberate note of the decade's
historically anomalous suggestion that "main-
stream American movies might aspire to the
sort of serious social or political content" c\ i-
denced in films critical of Vietnam {Coming
Home. The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now), of
the Nixon presidency (Shampoo. All the Pres-
ident's Men), of "frontier capitalism and, by
extension, of the American economic system
at large" (McCabe & Mrs. Miller. Heaven's
Gate), etc., but makes no mention of femi-
nism, the decade's women's movement, films
that presented either characters or narratives
(or both) that challenged gender hierarchy,
patriarchy, and sexism 1 .
eo
2
=3
E
Yes, it was the decade of the ascendancy of
young-buck auteurs criticizing capitalism,
government, and war. And it was the decade
of the first blockbusters {Star Wars, Jaws).
But it was also the decade of Alice. Norma
Rac. and Maude.
Sure, even Alice, Norma Rac. and Har-
old and Maude, featuring feminist icons as
they c\o. were directed and produced by men.
There was little " 7 0s magic happening when
it came to shifting the gendered distribution
of labor and power in the film industry ( pretty
women in front of the camera, smart men be-
hind it). And it's no accident or anomaly that
Jane Fonda was oear-stan ing to maintain her
ability (read: desirability) to perform so many
versions visions of the complex woman. Or
that the best-known aspect of Sally Field's
Norma Rae story is her "you really like me"
Oscar acceptance speech. Even as audiences'
appetites for strong, multidimensional female
characters increased, those mediated appe-
tites still preferred women who were skinny
and lovable, and the actors knew it.
Still, beauty-and-lovability standard
problems notwithstanding, what about that
audience appetite for strong, complex fe-
male characters? For Jane Fonda after she
made the transition from '60s sex kitten to
'70s serious actor activist? In the early part
of the decade, the most "bankable" female
stars, according to Motion Picture Alma-
nac v annual survey, were Julie Andrews.
Barbra Streisand. Elizabeth Taylor, and Ali
MacGraw. (That's mother-figure in a musi-
cal, ambitious-performer-diverted-by-des-
peration-for-a-man in a musical, sexpot se-
ductress, and love-of-his-life.) By decade's
end. Barbra was joined on the bankable list
by Diane Keaton and Jane Fonda.
In a single 1 1 -year span, Fonda played
a smart (not cutesy beart-of-gold-style)
prostitute attempting to reckon consciously
with the discrepancy between her ambitions
and her psychological and financial needs;
a ranch-running, land-defending cowgirl; a
housewife turned anti-war activist; Lillian
Hellman, of all improbable film heroines, in
a film about a romantic friendship (or more')
between two women, and a divorced woman
who loins two co-workers at her first-ever
wage-earning job in delicious!) getting even
with then butt-pinching, promotion-denying
boss. I hese were very successful movies
\mc la Five made over $100 million I here
was an audience for this stuti
["here's no doubt the second-wave
women's movement had a lot to <.\o with
n In man) ways, Fonda's '70s roles were
a reflection of how broadl) that decade's
feminist movement affected the entire
culture While lacking (but ol course) the
movement's radicalism and explicit, nuanced
political analysis, the very existence ol these
films proves that women's liberation hit the
Audiences (markets) are all about collective appetites. When we're
talking about a very costly medium like film, audiences/markets
matter a lot, and so mass appetites are very much mediated, cul-
tivated, manipulated, and shaped.
mainstream. Middle-class white women were
suddenly entering the workforce in large
numbers; marriage had been interrogated and
individual women were leaving oppressive
marriages or choosing not to get married in
the first place: women's relationships with
each other were revealed to be substantive,
meaningful. In consciousness-raising groups
across the country, women started telling
each other their stories, and all that story-tell-
ing helped to encourage an end to formerly
pervasive feelings of isolation and a begin-
ning of story-telling about women's lives
on a large scale. In the late 20th century, the
very biggest story-telling medium was film.
Embodied by Jane Fonda and a few other
extraordinarily talented actors, a new kind of
women's stories hit the big time in the '70s.
Audiences (markets) are all about col-
lective appetites. When we're talking about
a very costly medium like film, audiences/
markets matter a lot. and so mass appetites
are very much mediated, cultivated, manipu-
lated, and shaped.
According to Harpole's history, "strate-
gic or 'scientific' marketing in the motion pic-
ture industry began in 1^72 with Paramount!
spectacular success in promoting... The
Godfather... Business Heck pointed out that
recent market changes had forced the movie
industry 'to do what most other industries
had to do generations ago: synchronize pro-
duction and marketing." That is.. .'assume a
market that would justify the outlay."' By
decade's end. audiences were flocking to the
first blockbusters (While I was editing this.
the latest View Yorker plopped into my mail-
box, containing, among other things, a piece
that quotes critic Stephen 1 arber's comment
that "Audiences who think they made Maws'
a success are pitifully naive about the mass
media." Farber maintained that an "aggres-
sive media blitz" for the film "pummeled"
audiences into their theater seals >
Interesting, then, that someone like
lane I oiula solid where movie heroines
before her (and since) revert to coyness, to
delicate versions of fear and other forms of
distress, playing a diverse array of multidi-
mensional characters should be among
the most bankable female stars m the de-
cade that started strategically considering
concepts like "bankable " Interesting that
movie-money folks were able (o "assume a
market |lo| justif) the outlay" for not just,
sav. Sorma Rac or Wine to Five as singular
anomalies, hut loi a decade lull o\ nuanced
ami often defiant female leads \nd this
without any female writers or directors mak-
ing mainstream films. How much was that
assumption a response to emergent audience
appetites, inspired by feminist movement
and corresponding changes in individual and
group lives'.' How was that emergent appetite
shaped mediated by the new strategic market-
ing in the film industry? (And. tangential to
this discussion but important to consider, how
did de-politicized or watered-down responses
to representations of women's liberation af-
fect feminist movement and the culture it was
seeking to change?)
Although the mere fact of 2002 's The
Hours has me hopeful that maybe U.S. audi-
ences hav e a renew ed taste for character-driv-
en stories about multidimensional women,
there's not (yet. at least) a Jane Fonda for this
generation. There's no one the industry can
bank on to keep a mass of us in our chairs
to watch nuanced explorations of women's
lives. Of course, the increase (though slow
and hard-won) in female (even feminist) di-
rectors and producers — Christine Vachon o\
Killer Films {I Shot Andy Warhol. Boys Don't
Cry, Hedwig, and so many more) not least
among them — combined with the advent
of digital video technology (i.e.. the possibil-
ity of making mov tes for hardly any money
at all. compared to traditional and highly
prohibitive restrictive production costs) gives
that hope 3 a whole new aspect.
And while we hope, lei's also indulge
our appetites for good mov ies, and especially,
in these fearful, conservative times, transgres-
sive ones: Join feminist queer indie ? first-
weekend clubs and show the appetite-bend-
ers how you've developed your own taste. If
you're gonna plop down any discretionary
dollars at all these days, why not earmark
a few o\ them for supporting transgressive
films, or at least ones that qualify as some
kind of good in your book " Buy a ticket for a
mov ic that speaks to your appetite Go ahead.
as poet Cynthia Nelson tells us. and sing your
public thirst, i*
Footnoh i
Ilicu- is also no mention of films thai address
race, anti-racist work, etc
I lie movie's penultimate chapter iloes involve
some extended musing on Hollywood's other fa-
vorite way io ire.ii female sex workers prostitute
as temptress, corrupter, >..iuvc ol any violence
inflicted against herself oi other women
lo maintain mj hope. I'm going to try and ignore
me feci thai the l\ll)H tells me lane Fonda's yo-
ing to make hei comeback in I proposed 2005
film called Honster-in-Law, in which she'll play
s.i\ n isn'i so J I o's "horrifying mother
in-law "
Jennifer Grant
We all know the value of eating organic, getting regular
exercise, using holistic medicine and natural rem-
edies, campaigning for the environment, and cutting down
on our toxin intake. We also know the importance of healthy
sexuality to one's general well-being. For many, this means
incorporating sex toys, lubricants, love potions, and other
adult products into their lives. Sex has become more main-
stream than ever and, in spite of the abstinence advocates,
there's no stopping it.
Nowadays, there are clean, well-lighted sex toy shops
in every large city. Even if you live in the sticks, it's easy
to find a reputable company on the Internet that will deliver
sex products discreetly to your door and include a great
deal of education on how to use, care for, and clean them.
This trend has been developing for the last 10 years, and
now the "sex-positive" industry is in full swing. This is
great for everyone. It means you no longer have to risk
being seen entering that seedy 24 hour XXX store, and the
quality and selection of sex products has gone up while
prices have dropped.
The problem is, we Americans are evolving sexually as
a culture, but not to the point where we're questioning the
standards that go into the manufacture of the sex products
we consume. We're ok with buying them, but what are we
really getting? The adult industry is loath to self-regulate,
consumers aren't putting up a fuss, and the government's
not interested in safety right now; they'd rather prosecute
housewives for selling vibrators at home parties. So what's a
health-conscious horny person to do?
The first thing to remember is that the same principles
that go into purchasing, say, a Palm Pilot don't apply when
you're shopping for sex toys. Even with all the advance-
ments, the sex toy industry is still overrun with shoddy and
potentially unsafe products. This has a lot to do with stub-
born taboos and the fact that most people don't complain
at the Better Business Bureau about the rash they got from
their new vibrating dong.
In my job as a sex advice columnist and owner of an
online sex toy shop, I hear a lot of stories about dildo bum,
lube rash, and other negative reactions to adult products
that could have been avoided. The interesting thing is these
stories often come from people who normally are very con-
scious about what they put in their bodies.
This is because even post-sexual revolution, sex is still
a complicated thing. We all do it, but it remains mysterious
and can bring up all sorts of awkward feelings. It's ok to
own a vibrator if you're a woman, but most don't talk about
it. And forget about being a guy and telling your homeboys
about your girlfriend fucking you in the ass with her strap-
on. We still have a long way to go before we can truly talk
openly about sex, and of course this climate of shame and
silence affects the way the sex toy industry markets their
products.
Basically, there have been few formal, scientific stud-
ies done anywhere on the safety of sex toy materials. One
private study commissioned by a German magazine found
high toxin levels in sex toys. Because of this, both European
and Canadian health authorities considered studying the
effects of the plastics in question, but eventually. decided
against further research.
The European Union has banned the use of polyvinyl
chloride (PVC) plastics in children's toys (which are the
same as those used in sex toys), but has not addressed the
safety of adult products. The United States FDA has also
investigated children's toys, but somewhat predictably, they
concluded that a child chewing on a rattle that smells like a
toxic waste dump won't suffer any considerable harm.
Pure PVC plastic is used widely around the world. It's
normally hard and inflexible, like plumbing pipes. To soften
it. whether you're making a jelly dong or a teething ring,
chemicals must be added. When pressure is applied to the
softened plastic product, it leaches estrogen-like substances
called phthalates that cause liver and kidney damage in
lab rats. Over time, PVC plastics will emit these toxins on
their own, which is why your sex toy may turn cloudy or
discolored after a few months, while its chemical odor gets
worse.
The EPA has little to say about phthalates. "No infor-
mation is available," states their web site, and phthalates fall
under Group D, which means "not classifiable as to human
carcinogenicity." What environmental and activist groups
suspect is that phthalates do cause problems ranging from
CJ1
hormonal disturbances to immune deficiency
m humans, with similar effects on wildlife.
Short-term, you may experience a rash, burn-
ing, pain, even a vaginal infection from your
sex toy.
I lie children's toy industry has done
some self-regulation, but in the world of adult
toys, it's another story. Currently the sex toy
community is large and financially strong
enough to carry political clout, should it
w ish to go the greasy palms route of so many
other large corporations. Hut there's a reason
why people download porn on Kazaa all day
long while thinking twice about stealing that
new Beyonce single. The government and
the adult industry' have never exactly been
friends. I sually, their only lace time is when
sex industry leaders are defending themselves
in court. People in the adult industry associate
on a business le\ el w ith each other, their law -
yers and their bankers, and that's about it.
Adult toy companies in the U.S. classify
their products as "novelties." This is why
you never receive an instruction manual w ith
your sex toys. If they tell you how to use it. it
becomes a medical device and manufacturers
must follow a whole other set of restrictive
and expensive regulations. Novelty classifi-
cation is easier on the toy companies, but it's
not so good for the consumer.
The best thing to do is educate yourself
on the different materials and ingredients
used to make commonly available toys, lubri-
cants, and love potions. The next best thing
is to exercise good judgment and common
sense. The FDA is certainly not the highest
authority on what's safe. If your adult toy.
condom, or massage oil smells toxic, it prob-
ably is. If it gives you a strange reaction, stop
using it and look for safe alternatives.
The only safe sex toys are those made
from food or medical-grade silicone, or non-
porous materials like stainless steel or Py-
rex™ glass. Lubricants, massage oils, warm-
ing lotions, and other products marketed for
sexual use may also contain toxic ingredients
Here's a breakdown of what may be good and
bad for you. and why
Potentially I NSAFE Materials and Ingre-
dients
r\ ( Plastics \n\ soft, flexible sex toy
that's not silicone is probably made from
l'\ ( and is potentially unsafe rhese are of-
ten called "jelly" toys. Realistic toys like ( y-
berskin™ and Realskin™ products are also
l'\ ( Small bullet-style vibrators sometimes
come covered with icll> material, so make
S sure it's safe before you buy
a
E
■f- Latei It's not as common these da\s. but
e sex io\s often used u> be made from latex
| rubbei and some oldei models are -.till sold
■3 I alex will break down over time and is haul
t
to clean latex allergies can
be severe, so if you have
one. make sure the toy is
sale for you. Most sex toy
companies are good about
clearly labeling their latex
products
Nonoxynol 9 - For years it
w as suspected that this sper-
micide caused more damage
than it prevented. This is
because Nonoxynol 9 was
originally formulated for
use as an industrial cleanser.
Recent studies have proven
that N9 is so abrasive it
causes tiny cuts in the
genitals, which increases the
chance of spreading diseases
like HIV. Amazingly, some
condoms and many personal
lubricants still use N9. Avoid
it at all costs.
Mass-Marketed Lubri-
cants Many lubricants
for sex contain a cocktail of
unpronounceable chemicals.
As with sex toys, there aren't
a lot of studies on the effects
of these. But if you use or-
ganic soaps, shampoos, or
beauty products, you'll be
happy to know there are a
few alternatives available. A
company called Sensua Or-
ganics recently released the
first widely available organic sex lube. Un-
like previous products which tended to be too
watery. Sensua 's lube is slippery and gel-like.
A good online store or catalog will include
ingredient listings for their lubricants
Silicone or Oil-Based Lubricants Silicone
lube is great for occasional sex in the water,
but it doesn't interact well with PVC and can
make a toy's surface sticky, shedding bits o\~
plastic Household items like oils and petro-
leum jelly do the same thing, plus thev can
gi\c women a vaginal infection Silicone lube
also interacts with silicone tovs Make sure
your lubricant is water-based and you won't
have any problems
Vibrators Although vibrators made from
hard plastic arc generally safe in terms of
toxin emissions, their electronics arc often
less than high-tech Especially with water-
proof toys, check for protruding wires or
worn contacts and discard if you find any.
\ ibrators made in Japan or Germany are gen-
erally of better quality. Chinese-made toys
are cheapei and good if you are experiment-
but remember the safety precautions and
more toy tips
Use condoms over jelly toys to protect
the skin from potential toxins. It may
be impossible to find your favorite sex
toy in a safe material like silicone. So.
just slip a condom (without Nonoxynol
9!) over it. This also makes cleanup
easier.
Purchase your adult products at a
reputable business. Whether it's
online or in a physical store, a good
sex toy shop will have friendly staff
who can answer your questions about
the materials or ingredients in the
products they carry and be able to tell
you where the toys were made. If they
can't, keep looking and find a com-
pany that cares enough to educate
themselves and their customers on
the safety of sex toy materials.
While it may be far-fetched to expect
the adult manufacturing industry to
clean up its act on its own, aware-
ness is growing and more safe sex toy
alternatives are cropping up all the
time. It's imperative that those of us
who use sex toys are given choices,
as well as the information we need to
make informed decisions. Just as you
consciously decide where to buy your
produce, you can make a difference
by choosing sex products that truly
promote healthy sexuality.
use common sense. A
reputable sex toy store
will answer your ques-
tions about where their
products are made.
Safe Sex Toy Alterna-
tives
Silicone Sex toys
made from food or
medical-grade silicone
are gaining in popular-
ity as a soft, flexible
replacement for PVC.
Not only are silicone
toys non-toxic, they
warm up quickly and
retain heat, they're easy
to disinfect, and thev
don't degrade, which
means they can last a
lifetime. They're more
expensive, but in the
long run thev are quite
literally more bang for
the buck. Make sure
the toy is high-grade
silicone, as some com-
panies will attempt
to fool you bv using
impure silicone plastic
compounds and label-
ing it "silicone." Manu-
facturers that specialize
in silicone toys arc less
likely to use dangerous
compounds.
Glass - Although it may sound freaky, toys
made from high-grade Pyrex glass and pur-
chased from a reputable dealer are perfectly
safe. What's more, glass is entirely non-toxic
and because it's non-porous, it's even easier
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Metals Dildos and butt plugs m metal are
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I
As hilarious as you might think a chimp dressed
in people clothes is, there's more to these working
chimps' stories that you should know.
Sarah Baeckler Charles Spano
Imagine the worst job you ever had. Maybe your first summer job.
It wasn't all it was cracked up to be — mowing lawns for less than
minimum wage, pulling weeds, babysitting, maybe flipping burgers
or slinging fries. It was probably pretty lousy. But however low the pay,
however aw ful it seemed, you were compensated for your work and you
were there by choice (parental ultimatums do not constitute forced la-
bor). Now imagine a really awful job. It involves imprisonment, rigorous
training regimes, impoverished living conditions, daily beatings, no pay
— and the workers are children.
I spent over a year working undercover at a major I lollyvvood animal
training facility, researching the practices and protocols used in the film
and television industry. At the time, the compound housed five chim-
panzees. As a primatologist, I specialize in the relationships that occur
between captive chimpanzees and their human caregivers, so I used my
training to assess exactly what these chimpanzees were experiencing as
working screen actors.
Those unfamiliar with chimpanzee behavior could be misled by
appearances, as is often the case on set and on screen. Actors, directors,
and crew working with chimpanzees will claim they "looked happy
enough." or "seemed affectionate with their trainer." Dennis Miller, in
a strange preemptive attack on animal activists on the first episode of
his CNBC talk show, mocked the idea that his chimpanzee "co-host"
might be unhappy, offering. "If someone could come in and show me the
[chimpanzee's] unhappy, I'll let her go." This was likely attention-baiting
hyperbole; however, if he were to make good on his offer, a primatolo-
gist (which chimpanzee trainers are not) could easily provide proof of the
detrimental effects of entertainment work on the chimpanzee's life.
Many viewers watching films will assume that, just because chim-
panzee actors are wearing human clothes and making big, open-mouthed
grins, they are pampered movie stars, a notion as remote from the truth
as possible. For example, chimpanzees don't smile the way humans do.
When you see a chimpanzee "smile" onscreen, you're actually seeing
what is called a "fear grimace." This is not the sign of a happy chimp. It's
the sign of a frightened chimp. When acting chimpanzees cling to their
trainers, this isn't because they love their trainers. It's because they're
terrified to leave their trainers' sides, for fear of what might happen if
they do. World-renowned primatologist Dr. Roger Fouts notes that this
"clinging" behavior in chimpanzee actors is also found in abused children
- particularly that they cling to the abusive parent. And, most simply,
that is what entertainment chimpanzees are — horribly abused children.
According to Dr. Fouts, "It's wrong to use chimps in entertainment for
the same reason it is wrong to force children to work in sweatshops [and]
photo of chimp in the wild (left) by Carole Noon. Photos of chimps "working" (above and subsequent pages) by Charles Spano
CO
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in allow parents to beat and dominate their children. Chimps in enter-
tainment basically is a form of domination and exploitation."
I he average day in the life of an aeting chimpanzee starts at about
6:00 a.m. The chimp — we'll call him "Bob" — wakes up in a 15-
square-foot cement cage with several cage mates. He sleeps in a
three- by five-fool plywood denbox. It's dirty with old scraps of food
and garbage because Ins caregivers don't clean it very well. The cage
is outside and made of chain link fence, so it gets pretty cold at night.
Bob often wakes up shivering.
Around 8:00 a.m., Bob's caregivers arrive and take him out of
the cage to change his diaper. He hoots when he sees them coming
because he knows they are bringing breakfast. Once he and his cage
mates have eaten, one or two caregivers come into the cage and start
cleaning. Because this is an area that Bob and his cage mates consider
their o\\ n. they sometimes bite the people who are cleaning in defense
of then personal space. Also, since Bob is a playful chimp, he tries to
"help" the cleaners by grabbing their mops or running off with their
tools. This is w here Bob and his friends get their first beatings of the
day. Any behavior considered "improper" during the morning clean-
ing is promptly "punished." Bob gets punched in the back or kicked in
the head when he does something the cleaners think is wrong. Bob is
two years old.
After cleaning. Bob and his cage mates are left alone for a few
hours. Sometime in the afternoon Bob will leave his cage for a train-
ing session. The trainers sit Bob down on a rock or stool and ask him
to perform. If he does the trick right, he is rewarded with verbal praise
and a jellybean or other small treat. If he does it wrong, he is yelled
at and told to try again. If he continues to do it wrong, the trainer
will grab him and force him to do it. Bob screams in fear when this
happens 1 le's really too young to be required to pay such close atten-
tion. He's very similar to a human two-year-old: playful, curious, and
rambunctious. He doesn't want to sit still and do boring behaviors.
He wants to run around and explore and play. If he does this, though.
he gets beaten. If he runs away during a training session, his trainers
throw rocks at him and yell at him until he comes back.
Alter his training session. Bob is given some "playtime" to ex-
plore and interact w ith his cage mates. He is tied up on a leash and
allowed to play for a little while. If he does anything wrong, though,
he'll get beaten. If he tries to run off, he'll get punched or kicked. If
he bites someone, which is one of the ways baby chimps play with
each other, he will definitely get punched. So playtime isn't really that
much fun for Bob.
Around 4:00 p.m.. Bob and his cage mates gel dinner. Alter
another quick cage cleaning, the trainers go home. Bob doesn't go
to sleep until it gets dark
outside He and his cage
mates are left alone from
5:00 p.m. until 8:00 a.m.
the next day. Bob some-
times wraps himself up
in a blanket and siis there
rocking back and forth,
staring blankly He looks
like someone in a psy-
chiatric hospital He is so
mentally and physical!)
brutalized thai sometimes
the most comforting thing
he can do is tune oul
Some class. Hob
iiiusi go on an acting job
He is taken from his
and chanced into pieit\
looking clothes so la-
looks "cute." Bob is put into a dog carrier or small wooden cage in the
back of a big van and driven to the set. When they arrive. Bob gets a
quick "tune-up" from his trainer. Tune-ups sen e to remind Bob that if
he misbehaves, he'll be sorry. The trainer tunes Bob up by yelling at
him. taking a brush and jabbing him with it. or pinching and poking
him. This is scary for Bob but he knows his trainers "mean business"
so he tries to act "good." He knows if he doesn't he'll get beaten, just
like w hat happens at home on the compound.
The set can be very scary for Bob. There are all sorts of new
sounds, new people, and big equipment. Bob wants to look around, but
he's not allowed to. If he tries to run off he'll get punched. So he clings
to his trainer. It may look like he really loses his trainer the way he
hangs on so tightly, but really he's just trying to make sure he doesn't
get beaten. When the time comes for Bob to act. he's even more
seared. 1 le might have to hold hands with a stranger. He might have to
do things he's not comfortable with. He might want to run away so he
doesn't have to be so scared. But he can't, because he knows he'll get
beaten.
This is what I witnessed chimpanzee actors going through, day
in and day out. I saw trainers punch the chimps in the back, kick them
in the head, throw their whole bodies into pummeling the chimps
with their fists. They hit the chimps using rocks, mallets, and sawed
off broom handles. I once saw a chimp receive a brutal beating with
a stick; the trainer swung at the four-year-old chimpanzee with the
force of a baseball swing. I saw evidence of using a cattle prod. The
chimpanzees are punished for things that are completely beyond their
control. They are punished for doing things that are completely normal
chimpanzee behaviors.
The abusive treatment really takes its toll. Some exhibit signs
of psychological distress called "stereotypies." the most common of
which I witnessed was rocking. They'll gather up some blankets, or
grab onto each other, and rock back and forth. When they do this, they
seem a million miles away and it's very difficult to get their attention.
It's really a coping mechanism for them, a reaction to their experi-
ences, and it's quite disturbing to see. Other signs of distress are more
covert. Sometimes the chimps get obsessively attached to a certain
object and it becomes like a security blanket. Sometimes they injure
themselves or pull their hair out. Sometimes they pace back and forth
endlessly.
It's important to remember that these chimps are babies, perfectly
comparable to human babies In the wild, a five-year-old chimpanzee
— the oldest of the chimps 1 worked with would still be traveling
around with her mother. The youngest ones, the two-year-olds, would
be riding on their mothers' backs and dependent on them for all of
their needs. Imagine subjecting your two-year-old child to the things
I saw these chimpanzees go
through daily. Imagine learn-
ing that children were not just
being forced into strenuous
work regimes, but that two-
to five-year-olds were being
pounded in the head by the
closed tlsi and all the might of
a 2 '0-pound man
\\ hat goes on at entertain-
ment chimpanzee training
facilities is so horrifying that,
when 1 share mv experiences,
people ask if it is an isolated
case Ihcv're shocked and
appalled at how this can be
done to babies who want noth-
ing more than to forage in the
wild with their mothers Sadly,
these tenibl) abusive training
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Frankly, it is impossible to train chimps to be in television
and motion pictures without abusing them. It's simply not
interesting enough to a young chimpanzee to sit still and
pay attention for long periods of time. The only way to
train them is to use fear: if chimpanzees are constantly
in abject fear of physical pain, they will pay attention,
learn tricks, and perform on cue.
practices have been so natural-
ized by the industry that they are
not only common but the rule.
There are only about four major
chimpanzee training facilities
and they work together closely.
I visited two of the other
compounds and saw the same
red flags I saw at the compound
where I worked. I took classes
at the school that turns out
many of today's trainers, and it
was part of the curriculum that
chimpanzees must be beaten in
order to perform. Dr. Fouts has
seen trainers carrying hot shots
(small cattle prods). He also
notes. "I've had trainers tell me
the best way is the two-by-four
technique — to hit them for
reason." referring to a method
of chimpanzee training that in-
volves beating the chimps with
two-by-four boards. Famed
primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall
explains. 'The trainers want to
establish a relationship based on
fear so that they get instant obe-
dience, and there are various methods. One that I've been told about
is an iron bar. but it's surrounded by newspaper. . .then on the set, you
just need a rolled-up newspaper." I've had trainers that I witnessed
abusing chimpanzees tell me about other trainers they considered to
be brutally abusive.
People often ask how someone could possibly do something so
unconscionable. Unfortunately, the system is so ingrained that train-
ers and their staff don't think to question it. The staff members are not
experts in animal behavior — and as obvious as it is that this treatment
is absolutely abnormal, obedience to authority is a powerful social in-
fluence — so they do as they are told. Chimpanzees endure abuse for
running off or doing a behavior wrong, and the logic for beating them
is they need to be punished for "acting out" so they won't do it again.
The point that is missed on many trainers and their staff is if the chimps
weren't in these uncomfortable, unnatural situations, against their will,
they wouldn't be "acting out." They'd just be acting like chimps.
Frankly, it is impossible to train chimps to be in television and
motion pictures without abusing them. It's simply not interesting
enough to a young chimpanzee to sit still and pay attention for long
periods of time. The only way to train them is to use fear: if chimpan-
zees are constantly in abject fear of physical pain, they will pay atten-
tion, learn tricks, and perform on cue. As a primatologist. I believe
this is the only way to train a chimpanzee for Hollywood. This may
seem contradictory to the "no animals were harmed" tag at the end of
many major motion pictures. But the Film and Television Unit of the
American Humane Association (AHA), the organization responsible
for this disclaimer, by their own admission, has no jurisdiction over
the training compounds.
Earlier this year, Karen Rosa, director of the AHA Film and Tele-
vision Unit confessed to National Geographic's Jennifer Hile, "We
would love to be in a position to certify training compounds, recom-
mend some while blacklisting others, but we don't have the funding
or the jurisdiction." But without access to the compounds, the AHA
is not present during any training, which is where the majority of the
abuse occurs. They aren't always present on-set — Rosa also admitted
they don't police the majority of reality shows, talk shows, or com-
mercials. If Rosa admits the AHA has no jurisdiction over the phase of
production that results
in the most abuse, how
can the organization in
good conscience give
their "no animals have
been harmed" stamp of
approval? Bob Barker,
star of The Price Is
Right, believes that you
simply can't trust the
AHA disclaimer. "You
cannot accept that,"
he told Vancouver Sim
writer Nicholas Read
in 2001. "When you
see animals in pictures,
you are putting them at
risk."
Chimpanzee "ac-
tors" don't have much
to look forward to in re-
tirement, either. Chim-
panzees are more than
five times stronger than
humans. Chimpanzees
in captivity can live
well into their 60s and
sometimes even 70s.
But by age six or seven, an entertainment chimp becomes too strong
to control and has to stop "acting." So the next 50 years will either
be spent as a breeder, producing offspring who will immediately get
taken away and put into the training cycle, or in another substandard
facility. One trainer dumps chimps at a roadside zoo in Texas which
was recently the subject of an investigation that revealed horrifying
violations of state and federal animal welfare codes.
Trainers say they "work" chimpanzees. "Working" a chimpanzee
is not work at all, but painful, degrading exploitation of our closest kin
for human entertainment. Pulitzer Prize winning author Alice Walker
has said, "The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They
were not made for humans any more than black people were made for
whites or women for men." There is no compromise. Chimpanzees
shouldn't be used in movies, television, or commercials at all. The
only answer is abolition. The cost to them is too great. Not only does
the industry contribute to the abuse of countless individuals, but it
also comes at a cost to the species. Using them in "cute" or "funny"
roles makes a mockery of them and masks the critical nature of their
endangerment in the wild. Chimpanzees and their habitats are disap-
pearing at an alarming rate, and putting them on a talk show or in a
beer commercial is irresponsible.
Fortunately, there are a growing number of people in the entertain-
ment industry who agree that this abuse must stop. After working with
various animals (including a chimpanzee) in Being John Malkovich,
Cameron Diaz said, "I won't do movies with animals anymore. I'm
an actor by choice. A dog is not an actor by choice." Although the
campaign to stop this abuse is young, a growing number of producers,
writers, directors, and actors are pledging not to be involved with any
production involving chimpanzees. This movement has been spear-
headed by an organization I work with, the Chimpanzee Collaboratory
(www.chimpcolIaboratory.org). It's a ground-up campaign, because
the major studios are hesitant to make any sort of strong statements,
instead relying on the AHA ( w hich admittedly is powerless) to ensure
the animals are well eared for. Things will only start to change when
the individuals who make Hollywood tick defend chimpanzees and
their well-being. ■&
CJl
MICRANOTS
INTELLIGENCE
Minneapolis-St. Paul is the home of Rhymesayers Entertainment
(RSE), a nationally renown, independent Hip-Hop label/collective
that developed in the mid '90s. Rhymesayers lias since fostered the
grow ih of the Midwest scene with artists like Atmosphere, I os \ati-
vos, Musab, Eyedea& Abilities, and Brother Ali V all legends in their
own right. Springing forth from this MPLS-based pack are visional}
pioneers, Micranots. This unified duo consists of DJ Kool Akiem. the
production architect and master of sonic imager) and storytelling, and
\l( I Self Devine, the conscious professor and speaker o\ truth, en-
lightenment, and tangible content following the release of their album
Obelisk Movements in 2000 (by and large one of the most impressive
Hip-Hop releases of our time) on the Subverse label. Micranots signed
wuh RSI m 2002. I he\ have since re-released then first full-length.
Return o/ the Travellahs, and m February premiered the conceptual
follow-up to Obelisk Movements entitled The Emperor <S the Issas-
sin, I spoke w ith I Self De\ ine in earl) 1 cbruar\ \ la telephone and the
interview that follows is an abbreviated version of that dialogue
Samuel Pixley talks with
MC I Self Devine
!
i
J
Clamor; What sparked your interest to he
an \/( '
I Self Devine: Basicallj 1 would say that the
movemenl in general is what inspired me I
mean prior to Hip-Hop. we were listening to
all of the things that hip-hoppers were bom
from. you know, reggae, funk, disco, rock.
\ikI so when the phenomenon spread. I was
right there and I was young. To me. Hip-Hop
is prettj much everything, it's the attitude and
it transcends You know. I'm 31 years of age
and I've been participating whole-heartcdh
since '~ l > I'm a teacher but I'm also a stu-
dent, and I'm equalK both.
Would you consider yourself an MC tor the
working i lass '
Definitely I'm an average dude. you know I
have two kids and tor me to be able to make-
do. I have to constant!) supplement I or the
most part. I've always had a job Hut it's
wend, because the n>bs that I have to take are
often temp |obs Because 1 need a job that I
can leave if I'm touring with m) music And a
lot of times when you let employers know that
you're a musician, they're not going to want
to mess with you anyway because they're
trying to run their business. And when you're
in these factories, you have union situations
where you have a hierarchy. I've had a lot of
jobs where I've been able to use my physical
strength and there's no question that I'm able
to do that. Now I want to be able to use my
mind. So now I do a lot of freelance teaching
of Hip-Hop art. which is the tenet of Hip-Hop
broken down into collages, having reference
points of people and artists. That's what I do
now. but it's never been where this shit can
cover my whole financial situation. And so
for me. I'm trying to create that which I ha\ e
not seen which is suitable for myself in terms
of what I'm trying to accomplish in life.
Right, which is what I think we're all ulti-
mately striving for at our own pace. There
are a lot of people in the music industry that
are more entertainers than educators. What
I really appreciated most about Obelisk
Movements when I heard it. aside from DJ
Kool Akiem's production, was what you were
professing on the mic. Have you ever had any
regrets about your lyrical content?
I do have some regrets but these regrets are
more about the way in which the course of
music goes. Kind of like how America eats
itself, so does each genre. For me, the Obelisk
Movements should have come out in 1988.
Because there was not a lot of music com-
ing out then, and there was not a lot of other
diversions in life, like video games and such.
I feel that that album was very dense, and it
was created that way purposely. We didn't
want to compromise at that point in time, and
we wanted to make an album strictly for the
heads, to where you could listen to it years
down the line and still hear something that
you didn't hear previously. But beyond the
content of my music, I'm an MC. And an \1(
has the job of handling tire. You have to be
able to create your own hype, but you cannot
believe in your own hype.
For me, I don't lose sight. I don't see
myself as an activist, even though there are
some things that I do off-record that can fall
into that category. So where I'm at right now,
I've been putting together a formula that I
feel will be able to reach many people with-
out compromising the material.
How do \ ou feel like you 've been received
on-stage?
I would say that even on this last tour, some-
times I felt out of place in terms of speaking
to people that maybe didn't necessarily want
to hear it. Also being that most of the crowd
was white, maybe what I said would have
been more accepted coming from Eminem.
As an MC, we get caught up in a certain box,
and for me I don't want to be caught up in that
box. That's why it's very important for each
release that I deal w ith to show some type of
progression, but to be able to try and break
the mold every time.
So in working with Rhymesayers, do you feel
like Micranots have complete control over
their releases?
Realistically, it's pretty much a co-op. man.
We handle our projects the way we want to
and they're cool with it. What they'll do is
basically voice their opinions. We all don't
necessarily agree, but everybody has full
integrity. It's not like, "Yo, pull the plug on
that!" Everybody is pretty much account-
able for themselves. If you don't move to
push your shit, then your shit doesn't move.
I think that the whole purpose is to get with
motivated people who have a vision and see
where they want to go.
Are you registered to vote, and do you exer-
cise that right'.'
I have not exercised that right, and I've been
around people who thought it was just blas-
phemous, like a crime or something. They'd
be like, "I can't believe it. how could you
not want to make a difference, and how-
can you complain about things that
occur if you don't stand up'.'" I
realize many of my people
have died for the right to
vote. But now I feel like
the actual process of Not-
ing is like sugar water, it's
placebo. It's designed to
make us feel like we do
have power. Maybe on a «
smaller scale it works, but ^CT.
otherwise it's like they've got *fffi
their candidates determined long * •
before the voting begins. For me, I
don't believe that it's effective because they
got the shit on lock; it's a circle, inside of a
circle, inside of a circle, and the motherfuck-
ers in the center know everything.
The revolutionary tone of Micranots releases
continues to be an inspiration to a lot of folks.
Where do you think we 're headed?
I think more than anything what we're doing
is probably headed toward oblivion. And I
think the only thing that will save us is the
Earth cleansing itself. I was rewriting a song
recently that was talking about money, saying
that money is not the root of all evil, it's peo-
ple. And I feel like where we are right now
in life, there won't ever be a Utopia. There
has to be some negative to counter the posi-
tive. I don't think everybody would want to
live in an ultimately positive world. In terms
of some grand revolution. I think that the
revolution of change happens on a very small
scale every day. It happens with that tree that
falls in the forest that nobody hears, and it's
the big crash that smashes into a storefront. In
America, if we were to have an armed revolt,
it would be very hard because we just don't
have the resources. It'd have to go deeper
than that. Pound for pound, you can't really
go up against what you don't have the neces-
sary resources to undo.
So for me, I'm on a personal quest. Each
day I'm trying to be a better father, a better
man, a better brother, and to be able to share
the knowledge and the wisdom that I have.
The thing that I feel is my best asset is work-
ing with these kids through art to be able to
provide them w ith different avenues. A lot of
times I'm going to these schools that with all
this gentrification are way out in the 'burbs.
One of the places I've been working at. the
county had gotten sued for not having a di-
verse enough curriculum, so they brought us
in there. And to an extent that can be seen as
a token. You know, let's bring in some urban
shit to appease the financiers or whatever.
Regardless of the situation. I come in there
just how I dress on the street, and I give these
kids many different opportunities and visions
to see a black man doing something else
beyond sports and rappin". And by dress-
ing like them, they can identify
and know that I'm not putting
on a costume, so therefore
there's a connection. With
a lot of our people and
in general with
a lot of males,
«^' we just don't
fc? stick around with
J§5L our offspring, our kids.
So a lot of times I get a
lot of these young broth-
ers that gravitate toward me
because they're not getting that
energy at home. And when you take on
this job, there are a lot of other things that
come with it, like social work. You may
think, "Damn. I just wanted to come in and
do this art!" But then you might find your-
self mediating between families, between
principals and pigs. You never know. So for
me, that's where my change comes in, being
able to reroute some of these kids. Because
you know how the prison systems are, and
I don't want to send out these kids to get
slaughtered. But, at least for our youth. I'm
like, what can I really offer them these days? I
just feel in general that the American popula-
tion isn't as informed as it should be and I feel
like in my position, 1 have to be very care-
ful in terms of how I drop that information.
An extended version of this interview is online
at www. clamormagazine. org/issue26. html.
*«rt«»
,v
en
CO
What's Your Passion?
Stella Meredith Must Shawn Granton
So, you're in a bar or a coffeehouse, at a church social or
a political meet-up. You meet a person who attracts you.
Maybe it's the shoes. Maybe it's the vocal timbre. Maybe
it's the fact that this person is in a place you enjoy, a good
sign of compatibility. The conversation lags a little and
you fill in the gap. "So what do you do for work'.'"
You just blew it
Suddenly, the conversation takes a mundane turn
icky bosses, too many hours or too many cutbacks,
boredom, toxic en\ ironments. Hindrance upon hindrance
to the things you really want to do. Of course, there are
people who are "working" at "jobs" they really love, but
far too often "work" is considered one of the biggest set-
backs to the fulfillment of dreams.
When someone asks what you do for work, what
the) really mean is "What do you do for money?" Y\ h\
do we ask strangers how they get cash? What kind of a
premise is that to build a new friendship? Do we spend
so much time making money, and so little time following
our dreams, that our cash-chasing defines us more than
what we are passionate about?
Despite what some may think, the word "work" w as
not always synonymous with the daily grind!
It could be said that everything we do is work, but
not everything we do is monetarily rewarding. Techni-
cally, eating a sandwich is work; I don't define myself
as a sandwich-eater. When I answer the "what do you
do" question honestly, people are genuinely confused.
Saying that I'm a writer leads them to assume that I'm a
published writer. I can say I'm "working" on a novel or
on a scries of illustrations. This is literally what I do with
most ofmj time. Yet people would not consider that what
I do for work. They want to know how I make a living.
\\ hen I tell them how I live, they're still confused. If
I tell them 1 work in a backpacker's hostel, people assume
I am paid to do so. When I explain that I'm
not paid but earn my rent by helping maintain
the facility, lots of people ask if I'm looking
for a job. I have a job! I just don't get paid in
dollars to do it.
Let's say I work 15 hours a week at the
hostel, and the average rent for a place com-
parable to my housing in this area is S400 a
month. That would mean I get paid around
S6.70 an hour to do general housekeeping and
reception duties part time. Are you bored > et '.'
Of course you are! Whj would anyone I just
met want to hear the abstract details of my
rental arrangement?
When I meet people. I want to know
what makes them tick. I don't need to know
the details of their lifestyles right off the bat;
I just want to know what kind of people they
are. New meetings would be much more hon-
est and interesting if we acknowledged these
things:
— What we do for money does not
define who we are
— Even. thing we do is work
— Work is not a bad thing
I propose a new ice-breaker: "What's
your passion?" Art, music, old cars, botam ?
Do you spend every free minute volunteering
at the librarv ? Are \ ou sa\ ing monev to study
comparative religion in Japan? Do you dream
of travel, growing roses, sculpting a master-
piece.' So. what's your passion'.'
What do you "do, perform, or practice"
that makes you truly happy? ~tt
REVIEW ANNING THE FLAMES
The Fire This Time:
Young Activists and the New Feminism
Edited by: Vivien Labaton, Dawn Lundy Martin
Anchor Books
wwwanchorbooks.com
wwwthirdwavefoundation.org
Feminism needs a makeover. At least, that's so accord-
ing to The Fire This Time Young Activists and the New
Feminism Or perhaps, not so much a makeover as an
expansion, a way of revamping it, revolutionizing it. The
Fire This Time offers us a stew of essays that gives us a
briefing of this expansion, ideas ranging from critical think-
ing on hip-hop music to independent media to the pnson
system to globalization What feminism needs, according
Fire's wnters, is to cross all boundanes of oppression To
gain strength in the feminist movement, feminist activists
need to embrace issues such as sexism, homophobia,
racism, and classism. Though I think most feminist activ-
ists would say that is. indeed, what they HAVE been doing
all along, feminism in general, as a concept, has not been
thought of, or treated by the mainstream audience, as an
open movement What feminism needs, according to
the book, is more The definition of feminism requires a
change Opening feminism s doors and melting its ngid
definitions is what it needs to truly gam the power to push
the movement forward
I
E
">U*6
As a woman who's considered herself a
feminist since the ripe age of 10, I've done
my fair share of reading feminist essays
and books. The Fire this Time breathes
new life into old feminist ideals and
gives us new perspectives to work with
and think about. Reading this book
reminded me of reading Listen Up
Voices from the Next Generation,
edited by Barbara Findlen, when
I was 15, a book which provided
essays full of vigor, and voices I
wasn't used to hearing. It was
an enlivening, exhilarating
experience to read these
essays as a disillusioned
teen, revving me up inside
about things to come, about a
revolution that was taking place, moving us
forward.
The Fire This Time provides the same hopefulness
and urgency to act Fire does a good job of tackling its
sundry issues, each very different from one another, but
which weave into one another's stitches nonetheless
The essays seem interlaced instead of scattered and
disjointed, which seems to be exactly the book's overall
theme, feminism is a quilt of many patches instead of one
THE
THIS
solid blanket. Once this concept is
realized, feminism can truly
be embraced and treated
accordingly, becoming a
more encompassing, open
movement, creating some-
thing that everyone can declare
being a part of Fire is perfect for
both budding feminists wanting to
be exposed to new ideas, and
feminists who have graduated from
books like Listen Up and Jennifer
Baumgardner's and Amelia Richards'
Mamfesta Above all. this book should
be read by not only progressive activists
but also those who are cunous about the
future of the feminist movement, what it is
today and where it will take us As many
books of this nature that bnng up issues
of oppression and social injustices, it's both
hopeful and heartbreaking, and invigorating
as it is perhaps unsettling The book is also anything
but dry: issues are brought up in a new and fresh way that
make it an unusually quick read, which is exactly what it
needs to be in order to bust that door wide open.
■Alison Parker
Emily Sloan
Melly Curphy
No matter how frugally I live, there are always pesky bills (like rent
— why must a roof over my head cost almost half my salary'.')
plus I haven't figured out a way to stop eating and stay alive at the
same time. So like most other people. I've worked full-time for years
— cleaning dog kennels in the middle of a stinking hot summer, cock-
tail waitressing in the witching hours, and splashing around in the n\ er
as a nature camp counselor. One thing I've learned while clocked in is
that if I'm going to devote over a third of my time to anything, it better
be intellectually stimulating and purposeful. After all, my will-power
is easily tempted by sunshine, breezes, and a bicycle to play hooky
for an afternoon in the park, strangely absent from the giant medical
center where I currently work as a technician in a genetics laboratory.
Luckily I find my research on human disease interesting and worth-
while enough to keep me in the lab, and therefore employed.
Scientific research can be dull, painstaking, and stressful, but
beyond the tedium and frustration of daily lab research lurks a seri-
ous conflict of interests. Not only am 1 a scientist, I am a vegan, and.
unfortunately, biological research and animal use go hand in hand. In
choosing my scientific career, I have had to break my own self-im-
posed rules of not using animal products in any form.
For the last two years I have w orked in a human genetics research
lab investigating an inherited disease called Schimke immuno-osseous
dysplasia (SIOD). Children with this disease will suffer from skeletal
deformities, growth failure, a weak immune system with T cell defi-
ciencies, and kidney failure. Very few SIOD patients live past the age
of 20, and most die before they are 1 years old. The disease occurs
when a child inherits two mutated copies of the SMARCAL1 gene,
one copy from each parent. Everybody requires a working copy of this
gene for survival, although we don't know why a dysfunction SMAR-
CAL1 protein causes SIOD. Enter my research: When I go to work,
I design and conduct experiments to understand the function of the
SMARCAL1 protein and the role it plays in the body. Hopefully our
research will lead us toward better diagnosis and treatment of SIOD.
I fully believe in the cause of my research. Who wouldn't agree
that curing disease is a worthwhile, noble, and important task? Like-
wise, I fully believe that a vegan lifestyle can have dramatic effects
on individual and environmental health, and is also a compassionate
and aware personal choice. I became vegan over two years ago after
living in Costa Rica, where I was studying organic agriculture and
sustainable development. 1 saw first-hand the diversity and potential
of endangered rainforest habitats, as well as the de\astating effects of
livestock grazing and conventional (chemical-using) agriculture on
these ecosystems. I also realized how much water and food were re-
quired to raise animals, and that I could circumvent the entire pathway
by eating lower on the food chain. After being exposed to such facts, I
couldn't shut the door on them and live in good conscience. Consum-
ing animal products in any form contributed to a system I could not
support.
From Mice to Men
My vegan ethics blurred upon entering the lab. I wanted to remain
100% vegan but could not find a way to do this and stay in biological
research. Simply put, current methods of scientific research require
animals. I am not talking about testing cosmetics, shampoos, or drugs
on animals, which is for the most part unnecessary and cruel. There
are an increasing number of alternatives to this antiquated practice:
in vitro experiments using bacteria are becoming more cost-efficient
than drugging rabbits and rats, cultured human tumor cells are replac-
ing monkeys and dogs for drug trials and toxicity tests, and sophis-
ticated computer systems such as HUMTRN can predict the effect
of drug molecules on the human body without a living model. Many
medical schools have switched from animal vivisection to computer-
based models, much to the relief of pound dogs e\erywhere.
The majority of biomedical research uses animals in two ways.
First, animals are used as tools for examining the pathology of many
diseases. Mice and fruit flies are two commonly used organisms, and
have several advantages over humans for disease research. First,
their relatively short generation times (only two weeks for fruit flies)
reduce the time required for genetic experiments. Also, with fewer
chromosomes, disease research becomes less complex (humans have
46 chromosomes, fruit flies only four). Their genomes have been com-
CJ1
en
s
pletelj sequenced, giving scientists a huge
amount oi' accessible information. Model
organisms also often share enough similar
genetic material with humans to accurately
model disease (the mouse SMARCAL1 pro-
tein that I research is 72 percent identical to
the corresponding human protein). Scientists
can essentially recreate a human disease in a
mouse by manipulating its genome. Further
studies can then elucidate the function of a
protein, studs interacting molecules, or test
methods for '"rescuing" the mouse from the
disease, eventually extrapolating the informa-
tion to humans. Model organisms are a truly
powerful research tool.
Sometimes animal testing cannot be
avoided by law. The Helsinki Declaration
states that humans should not be used in
research unless appropriate studies have al-
ready been conducted in animals. This makes
the issue of being a vegan biomedical scien-
tist really tricky. To study SIOD in our lab, we
use human cell culture, mice, and fruit flies
to examine the disease from a physiological,
biochemical, and genetic perspective. The
data complement each other, but one ap-
proach cannot replace another. The only way
to understand how Schimke immuno-osseous
dysplasia affects children and search for a
cure is to use animals. What's a vegan scien-
tist lodo?
I went to the w ebsites of animal rights or-
ganizations, which have successfully pushed
for legislation to reduce mandatory animal
testing and increase funding for researching
alternatives, to look for suggestions for how
compassionate scientists like me could con-
duct their research. 1 found that, while most
organizations condemn the use of animals for
disease research, they offer few alternatives
for this crucial endeavor. The American Anti-
Vmsection Socictv (aavs.org) suggests that
scientists can "abstain from animal research
by pursuing scientific endeavors that do not
involve animals'" Okay, that sounds like a
reasonable idea: in fact. I did this myself by
choosing to work with human cells instead of
mice or flies. I nfortunatelv. in order to grow
the cells. I have to supplement them with
fetal bovine serum And mv protein experi-
ments on the cells require antibodies derived
from rabbits and mice, which were killed for
that purpose Hut I thought I was avoiding
animals bv working on humans'
Here we see the second, less obvious
was that annuals are used lor biomedical
research their serum, protein, antibodies, and
tissue turn up all over the lab in an indirect
.u\i.\ sneak) mannei Keeping in mind thai I
never work directlv with animals in the lab.
on a weeklv basis I still use over 10 animal-
based products in mv experiments on human
cells It's not casv In find alternative products,
cither In cell culture, fol example, human
cells require serum (from blood t to survive
If the serum did not come from animals, most
likely raised and sacrificed for that purpose.
it would have to come from humans. And.
w ithout getting too far into the ethics of using
humans for medical research, let's just say
that would be one giant headache.
The prospects of eliminating model
organisms from biomedical research are not
too bright either. As I said before, they are
a powerful resource and can give us lots of
information about disease that we could not
otherwise collect. Additionally, scientific re-
search is a conservative and dogmatic field,
slow to change or accept new methods of
experimentation. Animal studies are neces-
sary for research to be considered thorough
and acceptable for publication. Because of
the current trend in animal models, even if a
scientist were able to do high quality research
without using animal models, her work
would often not meet acceptable standards
in a journal and would not be published. And
in the academic world of "publish or perish."
where journal articles equal funding and
tenure, it is hard to challenge the established
system yet remain inside it. There are no easy
alternatives to an animal-based approach to
scientific research.
Meanwhile. . .
Working on human disease these last two
years has forced me to reconsider some of my
values in terms other than black and white
In order to choose whether or not to work
on animals, my ethics went into triage, and
research came up on top. I sacrificed some
vegan ideals by working with animal prod-
ucts in order to conduct research that could
potentially benefit man) individuals and
have greater impact on understanding human
disease as well.
\\ hen it comes to science and vegan-
ism, there are few consistencies. At times I
feel that mv personal values are as indistinct
and blurry as the Houston skyline on a red
alert day. The scientific community doesn't
necessarily condone compassionate science
either, so I don't get much support in my
dailv working environment. I definitelv ^\o
not know anv other vegan scientists, though
this may he more a feature of Texas than
one of scientists in general. I wonder if other
sine! vegans would accept animal research if
it were for the '"greater" cause of curing dis-
ease Because, like it or not. animals and their
products arc used everywhere in medicine,
from preliminary research to the tin vaccines
you get in the winter. As I have found, it's in-
credibly hard to be a purist It w ill take a long
time, if ever, before animals are eliminated
from science and alternative methods become
affordable and acceptable enough to use ■&
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-Dolores Huerta, Co-founder, United Farm Workers
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Labor Wars on the U.S. /Mexico Border
David Bacon
"Tough-minded, unsparing portrait of working
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—Ray Suarez, senior correspondent. The NewsHour with
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f
Tobey Grip finds purpose and
distraction in a prison work program
that teaches rather than exploits
prison workers.
E
"Hey, Boss."" Tobey Grip calls from under the husk of the 1970 Mus-
tang in the bodj shop Tobej arrived at the Bolduc Correctional Facil-
ity, Maine's prison farm, a year ago. after spending oxer three years in
high-securit) prisons around the state He has ahead) completed the
M\-month Auto Body program, but has stayed on to help his instruc-
tor. Brad I)a\is. with the next set of students Working in the shop, he
says, helps him endure the time that separates him from home. It takes
his mind off of what's happening without him in the outside world
Brad crosses the garage and peers under the car. where Tohe>
lies on the creeper, a drive shaft cradled in his left elbow It's not fil-
ling into place Once the two agree that the pan is too long. lobe) 's
legs appear from under the front end. then his chest, and last, his
head lobe) is 28 years old and has a young, clean-shaven face with
prominent cheekbones Around the bodj shop. lobes moves with
purpose, striding from one side to the other to find a tool or consult
the boss robe) loves to work ami always has He left high school
earl) to install windshields and storefronts fol Oaks and Parkhursl
Glass i ompany, a job to which he sa>s he'll return after his release
\i Bolduc. he pursued the Auto Bod) program with such determina-
tion thai the administration allowed him to skip the waiting hst and
enter three weeks after his arrival
,
Though Bolduc is tamer and offers more programs than the
"supermax' where Tobey was before, it is still a prison. You cross the
front lawn, use the bathroom, attend class, eat lunch, and the guards
are watching. They informally count you even' hour on the hour: they
formally count you six times a day:
All prisoners will be in their assigned rooms for formal
counts and remain there until the officer conducting the
count releases them. Neither your body nor your time is
yours. You, your room, and your property are subject to
search by staff at any time. Searches may be conducted with
or without the prisoner present. The rules dictate everything
you do and everywhere you go. Prisoners may sit at, but not
on, picnic tables at appropriate times, but may not "hang
out " outside the housing units or Admin. Building. Sunbath-
ing is allowed only after work hours and on weekends/holi-
days on the grass directly behind the Admin. Building.
Tobey is 18 months away from home. He's serving a six-year
sentence for nearly beating his uncle to death. He becomes subdued
when he talks about the incident. "A few people know," he says, "and
that's about it. 1 really don't talk much about it." His words come
slowly, and silence creeps between his sentences. He crinkles his
brow and looks down at his hands. Tobey 's uncle — his father's foster
brother — sexually abused a member of his family, and when Tobey
found out, he confronted his uncle. "I went over there, got in a fight
with him. and probably fought a little longer than I should have." he
recalls. "But it just happened so fast, and you get so mad, and the
next thing you know, emotion just takes over, and before you know it.
you've gone too far."
Because the authorities didn't know whether his uncle would live
or die — and whether to try Tobey for assault or murder — he did not
go on trial for about a year after the assault. After se\ en months, the
uncle finally emerged from his coma. Tobey says that if he were in
the situation again, he would most likely do the same thing. His uncle
had molested somebody before, gone to jail, gotten out, and had done
it again. "Somehow, you've got to break that chain," he says. "The
system can't do it, and there was no other way, and that was the only
way I knew how to do it," he continues. "I myself don't feel like I did
anything wrong, and nobody in my family feels like I did anything
wrong. It was something that had to be done, unfortunately."
Though prison has not affected Tobey 's sense of justice, it has
changed his character in other ways. Working in the Auto Body shop,
Tobey says, has boosted his self-confidence. It has given him pride in
his work and taught him patience. Since he has taken on the role of
shop assistant, he feels more comfortable interacting with others. He
has become more introspective as well. "I've learned a lot about my
feelings, and I think a lot more about things than I did before," he says.
"I definitely think about life a lot more, because a lot of stuff out there
you take for granted."
In the tiny bedroom that he shares with three other men, Tobey
opens the doors of his locker and pulls a photo album from a shelf. He
turns to snapshots of a beaming brown-haired boy, his five-year-old
son Matthew, born to his girlfriend a month after he landed in prison.
"He's my little pride and joy. my little buddy," says Tobey, grinning.
"He's so full of life, it's crazy."
Tobey says that he and Linda haven't yet explained the concept
of prison to their son: they're waiting until Tobey 's out and settled at
home. Meanwhile, Matthew thinks that his father is at work. "Last
night, he w as like, 'How much longer are you going to work — a mil-
lion-trillion hours?'" he says. "He don't understand why I can't be at
home when he wants me to be. He's like, 'I'm so ready for you to get a
new job.'" When Tobey was in a prison bounded by razor wire, Linda
did not bring Matthew to visit, but since he has been at Bolduc, they
have come almost every weekend.
At the end of this past September, Tobey and Linda married
among the paperbacks in the Bolduc library. Their 20-minute cer-
emony included his parents, her mother, their son, and a few flowers.
Tobey points to a picture of himself and Matthew standing side-by-
side alter the ceremony. "He had to have his hair spiked up, and we had to have identically
matching outfits. - ' he remembers. "Our sweaters were a little different." he adds, "and he
wasn't happy about that. He wasn't happy at all." Matthew started feeling better about the
situation after Tobey pointed out that he could use his extra pocket to hold the wedding
rings.
Soon alter his 24-hour honeymoon furlough, Tobey returned to his prison bedroom —
to his lower bunk, boron-soaked foam mattress, and clear plastic alarm clock that exposes
its wires and anything hidden inside. He returned to the tidy stacks in his metal locker and
his plastic shower sandals arranged neatly on the linoleum tiles beneath his bed. He returned
to his world within the world, where rules and routines keep life constant. "I'm here, in one
spot. Everything's the same." he ruminates. "Out there, everything's all revolving. There's
constant change. And when you go back, you're just in awe."
Stars pierce the black sky above Bolduc, but inside a bright cedar-scented craftroom.
inmates hammer, saw, sand, and paint their way through what might otherwise be a dull.
endless evening. Among the workbenches, Miss Maine model boats, log cabin bird feeders,
wooden dogs on wheels with strings, cedar hangers, and sailor's knots lie in various stages
of completion. Tobey dials his combination into the padlock on locker #30. He swings wide
the wooden door beneath his space at the workbench and pulls out one of his scallop-shaped
boxes, which matches the size of his outspread palm. Tobey sells his finished boxes for SI 2
each in the Maine State Prison Showroom in the nearby town of Thomaston. He can earn up
to $10,000 in a year, which he'll use to support himself after his release.
As the sun rises over the ocean, sets over the pasture, and rises once again, and as the
snow falls, melts, and falls once more, Tobey moves closer to what's out there beyond the
Bolduc Correctional Facility, beyond Cushing Road, and beyond Warren, Maine. He moves
closer to the house he knows, the family he loves, and time that is all his own. He can't wait
to move in w ith his wife, teach his son to ice skate on frozen ponds near the house, and eat
hot ham and cheese sandwiches whenever he wants. Until then, he stays put in prison. He
studies dent repair and welding, builds scallop boxes and wooden ships, and avoids breaking
the rules and being sent back to the supennax. ft
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Chris Abani
rice
Tess. Lotta
Two years after the publication of his first novel Masters of the
Board. Chris Abani was arrested and imprisoned for six months.
It was 1985, the year the Nigerian writer turned eighteen. He was
accused by the regime in Nigeria of masterminding a political coup.
The plot of his novel — a thriller about the return of the Third Reich
— was suspected of supplying the blueprint. Two years later Sirocco,
his second novel, was published. He was arrested for sedition and
sentenced to a year in Kiri-Kiri, a maximum-security prison in Lagos.
After his release, Abani began his studies at university and was ar-
rested once again in 1990 after the performance of his play Sung for
a Broken Flute. The performance was attended by a head of state,
and this time Abani was sentenced to death for treason. He spent over
a year at Kiri-Kiri, much of it in solitary confinement. Concerned
friends were eventually able to bribe prison officials and secure his
escape. Abani moved to London where he continued to write and
publicly challenge the regime. In 1999 he fled to America after his
neighbor — the only other Nigerian in his London apartment build-
ing — was murdered. Abani feared it was a case of mistaken identity.
Chris Abani now lives in Los Angeles where he teaches, writes,
and is earning a Ph.D. in English literature at University of Southern
California. GraceLand, his latest novel, was published by Farrar, Straus,
and Giroux in early February of this year. His literary resume shows
several awards for works of fiction and poetry, including the prestigious
Pen USA West Freedom to Write Award, which he won in 2001. His
work inches away from the images of the past, but the history remains.
Abani was born in Nigeria to an English mother and Nige-
rian father. Daphne's Lot (2003), a highly personal book of po-
etry, draws from his family life. Daphne, the book's protagonist, is
a characterization of Abani's mother, a woman who struggled with
dual enculturation. It explores, among many things, racism, the
Nigerian-Biafran civil war, love, family, masculine constructions,
the epic as a form, as well as the very construction of the truth.
"I know nothing of truth." the narrator laments in the book's first
poem "'Only a Small Prayer," in which the narrator works to unite truth
and memory for the remainder of the work. Daphne's experience sup-
plies the validation:
Her parents had not met any black men until
Michael V purple-black sheen and easy smile:
Grampy said it reminded him oj that other black
fella with the trumpet. And granny — little eth —
heating and reheating the spread 'cause
"They like hot food, " until the tea was sharp enough
to cut and cucumber sandwiches
peeled away, like pages curled from use.
"The whole idea of truth is called into question from the first line . . . [Yet]
as a Black writer you must occupy the real," Abani 'stone is faintly sar-
castic. "You are not allowed to occupy the imagined. I based Daphne's
Lot on facts, on aspects of my story — or else I would have written an
autobiography. But art, by its use, modifies things. You have to go be-
yond your specific circumstance to find something essentially human
that allows other people... to plug into a universal idea of humanity."
continued next page
£
Universality is a heavy literary burden in these times
of personal technology products and instant video gratifica-
tion. It is tOO abstract, too length) of a concept to he bothered
with. Privilege may make it difficult lor to some to relate to
GraceLanefs protagonist. Ilvis Oke, a boy whose dreams
are trapped by a horrific hie in a Lagos ghetto. Oke survives
a hostile family environment, as well as the violent aspects
of his culture, one imbrued with the products of American
popular culture. The union of Western images of excess and
hardened poverty creates parallel, if ironic, experiences.
"America has sort of a ( ah inistic patriotism that does not
allow for a dialogical position." Abani says, "so the irony may
have a somewhat difficult time surviving [for some readers].
Hut I think it has to do with powerful factors of American so-
ciety. I he very products you and I are able to acquire," Abani
continues, examining his living room, "means that somebody
else has to go without. If one is experiencing pleasure, there is
somebody experiencing pain. In order to continue, capitalism
tries to east away our guilt by saying, 'They envy our lifestyle.'
I am trying to expose these narratives of irony in my work,
not only ironies of the West, but how Nigerian culture absorbs
Western culture and transforms it into something different."
Abani has been hailed as one of the best contem-
porary post-colonial writers: "A watershed moment in
post-colonial literature." one American critic wrote of
GraceLand. Although this is good news to Abani, this
mouthful of a label belies a Western shortsightedness.
"It is a 'post-colonial' book in the sense that is dealing
with resistance to colonialism." corrects Abani, "but not in
the colonialism that conceives that we [Nigerians] are former
British subjects. It explores [colonialism] in terms of what
is happening today, which is this global whiteness that at-
tempts to engulf the whole world, and how America creates
its empire through exportation of its myth and mythology.
"People will always need their shelves to put their post-co-
lonial literature on." Abani offers a smile, "to show off that the)
ha\ e post-colonial literature." he reflects on the subtle racism of
literary categorization. "What I have control over is the internal
crafting of the work. I can't diss the critics." he says. "I teach
critical theory, and part of critical theory is that 1 do this to other
books. I am aware of the process, so I try to write beyond that."
\i live readings Abani is more casual than his literary
voice implies. One discovers a 30-SOmething artist, budding
jazz musician, and humanist with a sharp wit and easy manner,
lie is usually accompanied by one of his beloved saxophones
(one of which is named Matilda). It is not uncommon to find
him sharing the stage with other writer and musician friends
who join in with voice, turntables, horns, and bass guitars.
\bani calls these impromptu jazz compositions 'sound poems.'
"Growing up. my mother played lots of music." Vbani
explains, "all of mv art has come to me through women
and has been defined in resistance to men. My father would
not allow me to learn an instrument because, as a middle
class Nigerian, musical instruments would lead you to a
life of music \lv obsession with jazz comes from the
idea that once you know what you .ire doing, you can do
whatever the hell you want Ja// does not buy into the
idea ol exclusivity. It is the mosl non-fascist art form eve;.
"The most important thing to me," Vbani savs ol his
work." is how literature builds budges, but." he hesitates foi a
moment, then smiles. "I think ait in general should do that, or
does it. rather If you have the ability to articulate, in whatever
form, then it is incumbent on you to articulate, but you must
never buv into that ineumhenev Everyone has a valuable Mui\
lo tell " li-
lt was the corpse that did it.
Luo Kai Ming probably would have staved in the Tianjin sub-
urb of China's Xiao Ding Village, helping his father and brother
work as lieldhands digging lotus roots for a local farmer, if he and
his brother hadn't gone to a nearby pond and happened upon a dead
body bobbing in the water. The female coqise was wrapped in rags,
rotted beyond recognition. He and his brother had just drained
the pond to irrigate the field and unwitting!) revealed the secret
harbored by the shallow pond he had swum in and drank from for
months. So the 2 1 -year-old native of Anhui province decided that he
should explore other career options.
His brother told him not to look, but Luo. who had alw ay s been
a somewhat unruly kid, couldn't contain his curiosity. "Once I saw
it. I was frightened. At bedtime.. .once I closed my eves I'd see the
dead woman's image." For a week, he couldn't sleep or concentrate
on his work. What disturbed him most was speculation on how the
body had gotten there
"At the time. I had heard that Tianjin people were pretty
wild... A lot of Xiao Jie (prostitutes) were being killed and their
bodies were being thrown away." He had only heard rumors until
that point, but when the dead girl appeared in his field, he began to
piece together her story: near the farm were several restaurants that
offered additional "services." The girls who worked in these places
had nowhere to go. vulnerable to rape and robbery.
Though he took the corpse incident as a sign. I uo was already
disenchanted with the area's general lawlessness, particularly
with regard to migrant workers Not just young girls, but ordinary
farmhands fell pre\ to coercion and brutality, and in China, rule
of law is known for being somewhat slippery "Some police might
say. 'you're just waidiren [migrants from other areas of China]; it
doesn't matter.'"
I he body catalyzed 1 no's frustration with the hardships o\'
migrant farm labor He had tried to work in Shanghai before, but
hail returned after a month when he discovered that the train-
ing he had received in Anhui in woodworking and construction
was inadequate tor Shanghai's competitive market 1 his time,
however, he was determined to stay "I saw that people who left
home to work were making ten or twenty thousand RMB (under
I S $2500) a yeai they seemed pretty happy When they came
back to celebrate the New Year, they had cash to spend " At other
times during the year, it's hard lo find anyone in then twenties still
In mg in the town, most young people have left to work lie knew
that shanghai, as one of China's largest cities, would also contain
a startling find causes Luo Kai Ming
to reconsider his career path
RELOCATION
its share of hazards, but it couldn't be any
worse than Tianjin.
Moreover, settling in Shanghai was also
a matter of pride. "In our village, if you went
to Shanghai and came back after a month, the
experience would be seen as pointless. ..you'd
lose face. So the second time I came to
Shanghai. I had to take advantage the oppor-
tunities here."'
After searching for 10 days, he almost
lost hope, since most migrants turn back if
they don't find work within two weeks. But
a friend set him up with a job earning 400
kuai a month (US$50). doing metal work and
installation. He's remained at this job ever
since. He li\es in a tiny dormitory behind his
metal working shop with three other young
men from Anhui. One loft bed and two bunk
beds are squeezed into a tiny space alongside
a few chairs, shelves, a wok and gas tank for
cooking outside on the sidewalk, and a crude
sink. When not blasting metal beams in the
workshop, they manage to entertain them-
selves. An old television and VCD player
form the centerpiece of the room. And Luo
has recently endeavored to play music w ith
his roommates. He purchased three wooden
flutes and a small electronic keyboard so thej
could practice together. Luo taught himself to
play flute back in his village, where he would
ride barefoot on the back of an ox pla\mg
folk tunes. He also borrowed an English text-
book and cassette w ith the hope of picking up
where his grade school education left off.
Today, the country boy turned migrant
farmer turned manual laborer is many steps
removed from his Anhui village. Instead of
tilling fields or scooping cow dung fertilizer,
he installs florescent lights in apartment com-
plexes, fashions shelving units out of sheets
of metal and plastic behind a corrugated steel
gate on Song Hu Road, and rides to his job
sites on a motorized bicycle.
Michelle Chen
Sunshine
With no days off, he seldom returns
home except during the Chinese New Year.
His main connection to his home province
is through a small network of Anhui migrant
youth who work in local beauty salons, and
w henever he has a free evening, can be found
in a salon smoking cheap cigarettes and chat-
ting in his dialect with lao xiang, friends and
distant relatives from his home village. The
comforting language of his childhood allows
his face, worn rough by construction and farm
work, to melt into a humble smile, his crows
feet gathering beneath closely cropped hair
awash with complementary shampoo lather.
But on quieter days, or when the weather is
bad. he finds virtual escape in far comers of
the country. He hits the wang ha (internet
cafe) next door, where he can chat in his free
time with other youth from Sichuan. Jiangsu.
Hainan Island, and other provinces he will
probably never \isit.
It has been seven years since Luo aban-
doned the lotus fields and their horrible secret.
I le still shares the hardships faced by migrants
everywhere in China - financial instability, a
lack of government benefits, and a cultural
distance between himself and native urban-
ites. But unlike in Tianjin, Shanghai offers
the peculiar safety of a densely crowded city.
He no longer has to endure the eerie nights
and unnerving isolation of the interface be-
tween the quiet countryside and encroaching
urban sprawl. Shanghai, according to Luo. is
relatively civilized compared to other Chinese
cities. "It can be wild, but just not as wild as
Beijing." Here, at least, he can work peace-
fully without anyone hassling him for money.
After the Chinese New Year in January,
he gathered his saved wages, made arrange-
ments to leave his boss, and set out to start
his own repair and installation business His
plans, however, were abruptly shelved by the
discouragement of his parents, who want him
;1 married and settle down in his home
village. For the older generation, an indepen-
dent business venture seems risk} and self-
aggrandi/mg. His mother, supposedly for her
son's own good, harassed one of his friends
into taking back the money he promised Luo
to help him rent a storefront in the city. The
ambition of seven years of labor had been
snuffed in moments by a matriarch's iron-
clad traditionalism. Luo recently went back
to his hometown to plead with his mother,
but he fears he is fated to be an underling
forever. Still, there's always a way out: If he
can't pursue his hopes in China, his far-flung
backup plan is to spend his sa\ mgs on a plane
ticket to a new destination; a friend told him
that Japan and Korea are hungry for migrant
workers and you could make much more
mone\ there than in China.
But for now. Luo considers Shanghai his
adopted habitat, if not his captive home. One
clear afternoon, he borrowed a friend's digital
camera and took it to his worksite. During a
break, he snapped pictures of himself in front
of the Shanghai Gymnasium, the city's main
stadium. It is one of the many tourist attrac-
tions that Luo. with his meager salary, can
only view from the outside while he's on a
job assignment in the surrounding neighbor-
hood, the moneyed Xujiahui district. As a
boy, he spent his afternoons stealing fruit
from neighboring orchards and dodging the
teachers at his primitive rural schoolhouse.
Now, his mischievous streak still peeks
through his gaunt 28-year-old frame as he
looks for loose gates at the gymnasium's
perimeter to sneak in. Striking a pose next
to golden Roman statues, he seems at plaj in
the global village, an itinerant laborer riding
China's economic boom as far as it will take
him. •&
2
to
The Unlikely Striker
The Grocery Workers' strike brings out a side of Leilani Clark's mother that she had never seen before.
2
f
E
m
o
s
The stirrings of strike talk filled the air in Southern California in
September. 2003. Grocery worker contracts were up and Ralph's
(Kroger), Vons, and Albertsons, the three major grocery chains in the
stale, ottered up a joke of a package. They wanted to slash health ben-
efits along « itli pensions while creating a two-tier wage system which
would guarantee that new hires could ne\er make as much as current
employees. In the course of a month, the whisper became a roar and
there was a strike vote. On October II, 2003, the wave began and Vons
employees went on strike. In a move of solidarity between the corpora-
tions. Albertsons and Ralph's locked out their own employees. As of
mid-February, 70,000 United Food and Commercial Workers (UFC'W)
remain on strike as negotiations move at a snail's pace with no resolu-
tion in sight. The reasoning behind the strike is clear. The corporate
grocer) leaders such as Steve Bird (CEO of Vons Corporation), in an
attempt to keep up w ith the Jones' known as monolithic Wal-Mart, want
to alter the state of labor relations in California. The unions are viewed
as an obstacle to maximum profit potential.
My mother has been an employee of Ralph's since 1987. She
began as a deli worker, chopping meats and slabs of cheese for long
lines of customers. While I suffered through the tribulations of junior
high school, my mom worked nights and weekends in addition to her
daytime job at an elementary school so that our family could have ac-
cess to health benefits (after
the Reagan administration
busted unions in the early
1980s, many laborers, in-
cluding house painters like
my father, lost guaranteed
medical benefits and vaca-
tion pay). Working in the
deli was hard on my mom.
but she did it and eventu-
ally she was promoted to
a managerial position in
that same department and
often moved from store to
store. As it cut new hires.
Ralph's increased the hours
worked by managers - 50-
hour work weeks were a
normal occurrence. I was m college at the time and I remember reading
an article in the local paper about the CEO of Ralph's Corporation. Ac-
cording to the storv. he had recently bought the most expensive house
ever sold in I a Jolla. The house had a 35-car garage and some msanelv
huge number of bedrooms. He planned on living there with his wife and
son Mv mom had chapped and bleeding hands, the onset of carpal tun-
nel syndrome bom usuil' the meal sheer all day, and an exhaustion that
never reallv passed She lived with us m a two-bedroom house with a
one-ca
I mentioned the article to mv mom and she didn't seem to think
much ot it at the time I hat was just the way things were, was her opin-
ion \s a result of the stnke. her attitude has changed dramatically.
" I hese businesses were built on the sweat and blood of their work-
ers, that is what has built them up over the veais. and ihev have proven
that thev don't care Most corporations are corrupt and 1 think that
thev II do just about anv thing to make a buck tor themselves, to exploit
the working class people, and the) exploit people m foreign countries
that are working as slaves tor slave wages "
I hese are the words that come trom mv mother's mouth now
\s a woman w ho has sacrificed most ol her lite to the raising ot her
Children anil the happiness ol hei husband, al 53 mv mother has begun
to find her own voice as a worker, an agitator, and even m\ activist Alter
spending long hours on the picket line, locked out b> the ver> compan)
that she has dedicated 17 years of her life to, she entered into a new
arena of political expression — or at least one that I have not seen her in
before.
Picketers have lost medical benefits and thousands of dollars in
wages. Along with the economic toll, a general sense of depression has
settled in amongst the strikers as funds dwindle. At the same time, it
my mom is any sort of representative example, there is an empowering
know ledge of the importance of standing up to these corporations that
want to strip employees of any bargaining power. Although thev mav
not have considered themselves activists before, or even political for
that matter, grocery workers have been forced into a political tightrope
game.
"I liked my job and I felt like we were important to our bosses,
but since the strike started I realized they don't care anything about
workers," my mother says. "The only thing thev are about is their stock.
stockholders, and making profits."
Life on the picket line hasn't been easy. Strikers have been falsel)
accused of harassment by "scabs.'' monitored bv the cops, and flipped
off by speeding drivers. On the other hand, there are customers that
support the strike and have refused to shop at major grocery chains, in-
stead patronizing places like Trader Joe's and other smaller businesses
Locked-out employees are sometimes challenged by Ime-crossers and
sometimes they initiate the challenge. "Sometimes customers go in and
stop and make excuses, or they apologize. Some people call us lazy
and tell us to 'go out and get a job.'" My mother has encountered her
own confrontations on more than one occasion. It's hard not to w ith the
mounting frustration combined with the attitudes of some line-crossers.
"I confronted one man because he had been a regular Ralph's customer."
she recalls. "He said that not crossing the picket line would not make
any difference. I told him he could use it as a leaching tool for his son. to
show him not to cross the picket line. He laughed about it and said that
he was teaching his son that it was okay to cross a picket line. Some-
times people say mean things but I just think that thev are naive and
ill-informed and thev don't understand what is really going on."
\s the strike moves into its fifth month at the lime of this writing.
UFCW members are falling into an increasing economic stranglehold.
Hundreds of thousands have been affected bv this strike. Single mothers
trying to support their children on one paycheck, people dependent on
prescriptions who suddenly have no medical insurance, and those who
cannot find work to supplement the meager strike pav are just a few of
the common scenarios. Picketing wages have fallen to SI 00 per week
because the union strike funds have dwindled As a result, mv mother
was forced to look for Other employment and she is now working almost
40 hours a week at a local department store while still picketing the
required 20 hours a week
"I was one of the luekv ones." she savs "I was able to find work
A lot of people have not been able to find work Ihev are blacklisted bv
companies if it is found out thev arc on lockout from Ralph's because
thev know thev won't be staving It's kind ol a desolate feeling. It's like
futile attempts at looking for work "
Hie first week of the strike was filled with excitement and motiva-
tion but as the strike continues on. the contrast is palpable Mv cousin,
also an employee of Ralph's, is on strike as well An economic and emo-
tional struggle has ensued for her as she tries to organize her life in the
midst of massive job upheaval When mv familv gets together, there is
always an underlying tension in the air Should we talk about the reality
of this situation or not' Or just pretend it's not happening' It's a diffi-
cult choice lo make W hen the strike becomes a topic ol discussion, the
conversation ends up highlv political and charged with anger And even
when there is no discussion, it is always hanging over us. in the air. all
around
I ven so. I have seen an amazing change take hold within my
mother as she experiences the emotional and financial tolls of employer
betrayal. Here is a woman who for the most
part has lived her life in my father's political
shadow. As an avowed Trotskyist and dedi-
cated member of the Spartacist League, my
father has always carried his politics on his
sleeve with a proud "fuck you" to the gov-
ernment. My mother, though quite liberal in
her political views, has always tended to be
much more quiet when it comes to state-
ments on the political environment. It was
as though she never wanted to go too far
over the line. This may have been a remnant
of the generation that she grew up in or just
part of her interior personality. My father
has always been so vocal in his demand for
an armed worker's revolution that my mom
has probably felt that there was no room left
for her voice in the political topography of
the family. I used to attribute my opinionat-
ed nature to my father but I now realize that
my mother's quiet inner strength is equal in
influence.
The burgeoning anti-corporate stance
espoused by my mother has been truly
exhilarating. I have heard the phrase "fuck-
ing corporation" come out of her normally
beatific mouth on more than one occasion.
She lays it all down in a passionate and
righteously angry manner. "Labor over the
whole country has to unite and come to a
halt to make enough of an impact on the
corporations that they will see that without
the working-class people this country will
come to a grinding halt and we are the ones
that make the country run." she says.
In December, a friend and 1 went to
a book reading by political writer Mike
Davis. My parents had talked about going
but it was crowded and we couldn't find
them so we sat down in the front row. After
the introductions, a qucstion-and-answer
session began. After somebody brought up
the UFCW strike which was then in the
beginning stages, I heard a strong woman's
voice from the back. I turned around to see
my mother standing up tall and proud. Each
person in that audience paid close attention
to her words as she eloquently and passion-
ately laid out the details of the strike. How
could they not? There was so much power
and knowledge behind what she had to say.
1 had never seen my mother like that before.
At the end of her short speech, the audience
clapped enthusiastically, and my mother
glowed. She had found her voice. tV
ed. note: On March 1, 2004, after a two-
day vote, the United Food and Commercial
Workers approved a new contract, bringing
an end to the nearly five-month long strike
and lockout. Under the new three-year
agreement, union members will pay no pre-
miums toward their health care plans in the
first two years and may have to pay from $5-
S15 for coverage in the third year. The con-
tract maintained the two-tier wage system
for entry-level employees who will receive
substantially less pay and fewer benefits.
Mm CM mam, 2
The Cities
AnnArbor, Ml
Athens. OH
Austin. TX
Brooklyn. NY
Denver. CO
Easthampton. MA
Gainesville. FL
GrandRapids. Ml
Greensboro NC
Houston. TX
InlandEmpire. CA
LosAngeles. CA
Madison. Wl
Milwaukee. Wl
Minneapolis, MN
Nashville, TN
NewOrleans, LA
Oakland, CA
Olympia. WA
Pittsburgh, PA
Portland. OR
Richmond, VA
SanFrancisco. CA
Seattle, WA
St.Louis, MO
Syracuse. NY
Toledo, OH
Tucson, AZ
Urbana, IL
VanWert. OH
Winona, MN
Worcester. MA
This year Clamor worked with amazing people across the country to stage the
groundbreaking nationwide Clamor Music Festival — featuring over 150 performers
in 32 cities coming together all on the same night! What follows, in teeny-tiny print,
is our gigantic thank-you card for making it all happen. Put your magazine down and
give these folks a hand. These are props well-earned.
The Performers
The
Volunteers
Adam Hurter
Allen Harrison
Amanda Luker
Andy Grim
Anne Elizabeth Moore
Bob Cahill
Brandon Bauer
Bryan Funck
Chris Burnett
Chris Tracey
DJ Mega
Doug Bohm
Greg Schweizer
Jason Powers
Jeff Vandenburg
Jen Loy
Jenny Lee
Jenanne Thompson
Jethro Ford
John Rash
Joshua Medsker
Karla Lorena Aguilar
Kayte Young
Kristina Rizga
Maggie St Germain
Mark Sarich
Martha Riecks
Matt Roff
Mike Medow
Molly McCluskey
Pete Baldwin
Rob Monk
Samuel Pixley
Sara deAloia
Sara Helen
Sheila Bishop
Tim Rakel
Tina Bold
Yael Grauer
Zoe Swords
Aaron Carter
Al Larsen
All or Nothing HC
Apollo Up
Are You Fucking Serious
Athletic Mic League
The Axes of Evil
Baba (Open Thought)
Bad Folk
BBQ Kings
Beat Grrl (DJ Christal)
Bernie Allen
Best Friend Suicide Pact
Beth Simpson
Big Noise Films
Bleeding Hickeys
Blood Of Patriots
Blood Red Sky
Booner
Boxing Water
Breed/ Extinction
Breeze Evahflowm
Brendon
The Bryan Funck MCs
Bustin Beats
Cache
Caliche Con Carne
The California Navels
Campo Bravo
(cH)evron
The Childers
Chip Cruz
Choke Their Rivers With Our Dead
Chris Milhausen
Climbing poeTree
City Sleep
Communist Guitar
Conspiracy of Thought
David Soto
Davies Vs Dresch
Dead Beat Dads
Desert Rat
Dialogue Elevaters Crew
DJ Assfault
DJEse(DefJux/Embedded)
DJ Haircut
DJ Kajika
DJ Munk
DJ Sie one
DJ Z0Z0
Fear Kittens
Felonious
Fields of Industry
The Fight Within
Finale
Five Story Fall
Forealious
The Free Radicals
Freedom Sold
Hazel Levy
He Taught Me Lies (HTML)
The Hellfire Club
The Highway Matrons
Hobo Jazz
lllalogical Spoon
The Impossible Shapes
In Museums lex-lntimai
Industries of the Blind
Invincible
Jazio Blaq
Jean Grae
JoAnn Riedl
Johnny Cheapo
Jon Brion
Joshua Coast
Kamau
Kara
Kate Pollack
Kennedy
Kres
Lars Din
Last Call
Lily
Lord Finch
Los Yama
Losten Found
The Malcontent Party
Man at Arms
Marathon
Mashup Sound System
Matt E P
Mea Culpa
Mega
Mezklah
Miguel Ortega
Mista J the Titan
Monsterpuss
Motion Disorderz Crew
Murder of Crows
Myello
Nakatomi Plaza
The New Harmful
New Kevin
New Kiva Motions Puppetheatre
Noble Savages
Nomo
The No-Name Poetry Collective
The Nothing
Oggatron
One Gram
Peace Terrorists
Pegosos
People Again
Perfection is a Myth
Peter Baldwin
Phoenix
Piedmont Charisma
Polyrhythmic
Poverty & Vixta
Prozack Turner
PS I Love You
The Quicks
Radical Cheerleaders
Rebel DJ T (XLR8R Magaz
Ricanstruction
Robber Barons
Ross and the Hellpets
SaberTooth Tiger
Sarah Kanouse
Sarah Kate Albrecht
Sarai
Schleprok MC
School of Accuracy
7th Street Coincidence
Sharon Olds
Shore Leave
Shotgun Monday
Shuttlecock
Sie One
Signal Drift
Sine Nomine
The Skulls
Small Town Tragedy
Some Garage Band
Sounds From Afar
SourPuss
Stem Cell Research
Styles for Modern Living
Stylex
Superhopper
Taste Emcees featuring Armagideon
Telecast
Theillaiogicalspoon
Things Fall Apart
Those Rotten Beats
Threnos
Thunderbirds Are Now 1
Tony Danza Tap Dance Extravaganz;
Triple Eagle
Turn Around Norman
Tyde
USSR
Uwharna
Walidah Imansha
The Whole Fantastic World
The Whole Sick Crew
Work
Xenogia Spoken Word Collective
Zach Miller
Zoe Swords
Zubabi
The Partners
Arise Bookstore and Resource Center
Austin Zine Library
Big Noise Films
Capitol Underground Radio
Civic Media Center
Colorado Independent Media Center
crew374
The Everland Collective
Faesthetic Magazine
Flywheel Arts Collective
Food Not Bombs
Free Radio Olympia
Friction Records
The Gloo Factory
Hip Hop Congress
Houston Independent Media Center
Iron Compass Records
Iron Rail Bookstore
KDHXFM881
Kill Radio'
Kitchen Sink Magazine
Ladyfest Richmond
Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center
Madison Infoshop
Media Alliance
Media Magicians
Moment
New York City Grassroots Media Coalition
Pittsburgh Independent Media Center
Prometheus Zine
rad art
Richard Hugo House s ZAPP
(Zine Archive and Publishing Protect)
7 Corners Collective (7CC)
Slave Magazine
Submerge 411
Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center
WUAG 103 1
Zine World A Reader s Guide to the Underground I
hip hop
hardcore
punk
indie rock
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1
A SISTER-CITY CELEBRATION
86 th ANNUAL
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EXHIBITION
IAKE SOME NOISE
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Toledo, Ohio
SELECTIONS FROM THE
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JUNE 11-JULY 25, 2004
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1 1
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